


Shadowborn

by AlQaholic



Category: No Fandom, Original Work
Genre: Adventure, Angst, Combat, Fictional Oriental/Asiatic Setting, Samurai, Shinobi/Ninja, Slow-burning romance, Spirit Animals
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-01-15 03:37:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 106,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21246845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlQaholic/pseuds/AlQaholic
Summary: It takes courage to stand on your own two feet. The path of the lone wolf is not an easy one, fraught with suffering and danger, but for a young shinobi, it was the only one he had. Thinking he has nobody to depend on, as fate would have it, he ends up meeting someone who'll change his life forever. ***this story is a work in progress and already posted chapters may be changed, removed, added, or polished as I experiment and hone the story into what I believe it should be***





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> As you read this work, you may find parallels between it and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice—a game that is a big inspiration for the universe of the story and the story itself. It may help you to imagine the world better if you've played the game before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you read this work, you may find parallels between it and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice—a game that is a big inspiration for the universe of the story. It may help you to imagine the world better if you've played the game before.

"Push! Push! You're almost there!" one of the midwives encouraged from the foot of the bed. In the center of the room, a pained mother writhed in agony as she endured the throes of childbirth in their full and unrelenting force. The midwife leaned down attentively in front of the laboring woman, hands on her knees, monitoring the process and making sure everything was coming along as it should. The baby looked like it was just about to come out.

Ursa cried out in pain. A second midwife at the bedside placed a hand on her nape and gave her exhausted eyes a reassuring look. It had been so long. Ursa gritted her teeth and tried to pull herself together. The pain had reached almost unbearable levels.

Removing her attention from the emerging infant, the first midwife glanced up at Ursa. "Again!" she encouraged once more.

With a few, last, final pushes, Ursa continued to cry out in nerve-shattering pain.

"Yes, yes! That's it!" the first midwife said gleefully.

As soon as those words broke the air, the second midwife immediately came to assist the first with the newborn, helping to extract the child. Then, the first midwife cradled the infant and raised him up to chest level for the three of them to see. The midwife's eyes fell upon the infant with a curious expression, but it quickly dissipated into excitement. She beamed happily at Ursa, exclaiming, "It's a boy!"

Realizing the ordeal was finally over, Ursa breathed a sigh of relief. Her back was aching from the entire process, but pain quickly lost its place at the front of her attention. "Bring him here," she said, exhausted, motioning for the midwife to hand him over.

Ursa carefully retrieved the boy from the midwife's arms and pressed him against her chest to keep him safe. His breathing was a bit labored as she held him, and he was a lot smaller than her other two had been. She loved him nonetheless, gazing down in motherly warmth at the child as the boy wrapped his tiny hand around her seemingly oversized finger. The feeling of it brought further relief to the woman's soul. He was a tiny, fragile thing; the birth had been premature and uncertain, but it was a successful one at that. She couldn't have been more grateful. She had one of the midwives pass her a small blanket, and she gingerly wrapped him in it.

Just then, the sound of heavy footsteps making their way up the stairs reached the room. Ursa immediately knew who it was. In her world, there were few things that could ruin this moment, and the sound of those footsteps was certainly one of them.

The door opened, and a large, towering man, clothed in a washed out tunic and a thin layer of mesh armor underneath, ambled into the room. His lower legs were besmirched with dirt and dust; it was clear he had been fighting. At his entrance, the air immediately turned quiet, a mix of heaviness and fearful reverance. The man's eyes darted across the room, the scar of a blade tracing its way across his forehead and over the crook of his nose and down to his cheek as prominent as ever, until they fell upon Ursa. Nearly as tall as himself, the man carried a hefty katana sheathed upon his backside. His harsh, stony expression was marked by a full beard, gray with age like the rest of his hair, that reached all the way down to the middle of his chest. The hair upon his head had been woven into a large, shaggy braid, much like a shimenawa, that hung just above his ankles and came together into a tuft at the end. Though his gaze told of many secrets and atrocities, the iridescent pelt of dark purple raven feathers draped over his shoulders was probably the most telling thing about him. To most, he was known as none other than the Great Mist Raven—a rogue and highly revered master shinobi—but to his sons and his wife, he was simply Danzo.

Danzo Daihachi.

"Danzo?" Ursa said in slight disbelief. She hadn't expected him to show up.

"I was out training with Hakoda when they told me, but it appears that I'm too late," Danzo said as he noticed the infant. He drifted next to Ursa but kept his gaze on the child. His eyes narrowed darkly. "Is it a girl...?"

"No..." Ursa murmured. "You have another son."

In Ursa's mind, she was more than thankful he wasn't a girl. She knew what would've happened if he had been.

"Good. Very good," Danzo said. "Now give him here."

Closing her eyes, Ursa lowered her head in respect. If she had any actual say in the matter, she would've rather not have done that, but she knew Danzo well, and hid her reluctance as she handed their son over. As he took him off her hands, Danzo's burly fingers almost obscured the boy completely.

The infant had been mostly silent up until now. Though he had just been born, he could sense that something was suddenly wrong, and he began to cry as best he could. For an infant, his protests were weak and pitiful, much like his underdeveloped body.

Danzo growled in dissatisfaction. "Listen to him," he remarked, his upper lip curling in scathing disdain. "A weak set of lungs! I told you I needed strong heirs!"

The boy began to cry even more.

"I'm sorry, my love. There was nothing that could be done. Please, leave him be... He's just a baby," Ursa said.

"And a waste of my time and resources!" Danzo snarled. For a brief moment, the air hung heavy, and all anyone in the room could hear was the man's ominous huff of displeasure and the sound of a distraught child. He stared down in grim consideration at his newborn son. No one was sure what he was going to do, but then he spoke again, his voice low and dark. "Unthinkable... Such a miserable display... I expected more from my own." Danzo's eyes narrowed at Ursa, his voice rising in anger again. "Is this even my son?"

"I would never be unfaithful to you, my love," Ursa professed.

"For your sake and this child's, I certainly hope not. He might as well not be mine! Why did you even bother sending someone for me?" Danzo spat. Disgusted, he roughly shoved the boy back into Ursa's stunned arms with a snort. He started to storm out of the room, but right as he was leaving, he paused inbetween the doorframe and glanced back scornfully at his wife, "You're lucky he's male. Even so, you would be smart to get rid of him. I have little patience for low potential."

The door shut with a slam.


	2. The Longest Night

"Listen closely, you three," Danzo proclaimed in a commanding voice, facing his sons, his hands clasped behind his back. "For as long as you are alive, you must never forget the Shadow's Code. Remember these three rules as they are what bind us together." Danzo turned around and imposed his index finger upon the three boys as they listened intently, not daring to interrupt the man, "One..." he declared, "The parent is absolute. As your father, my will takes precedence, and it must be obeyed." With this, Danzo raised a second finger. "Two... Vegeance is everything. As shinobi, there is no shame in losing one battle, but you must take revenge by any means necessary." Danzo raised the third and final finger. "And three... Victory must always come before honor. You are not samurai, you are ninja, and you will act as such..." Danzo paused for a brief moment, letting his words sink deep into the hearts of his only audience. From beneath furrowed brows, he looked between the three boys to see how they were taking it all in. Then he turned around, facing away from them with an unsmiling look on his face. "That is all. Now we can begin our training. In case you haven't noticed, Hakoda and Ukon, your brother Sozin will be joining us today."

Hakoda, the eldest of Sozin's two older brothers, laughed and glared in contempt at Sozin. "Is that why he's here? I thought he just wanted a better view than usual."

"Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up getting hurt. I don't want him taking away from your attention, father. You should be training us instead," Ukon, the middlest brother, said.

"We'll see how he does..." Danzo muttered, making no effort to hide the fact that he wasn't expecting much. He cast Sozin a brooding glare, his eyes demanding that the boy bring something with at least a modicum of value to the table today. Unlike last time.

Sozin frowned at his father's words and felt himself shrink a little under the man's penetrating gaze. Worried, the small boy tried mustering up the fiercest look he could, but even the most oblivious of people would've been able to tell how nervous he was. As a quiet and meek boy by nature, it was something he struggled with often and just another one of the many reason his father despised having him around the estate. But it didn't really matter where he was—at school, in public, or at home, pretty much everyone was able to tell Sozin's true nature as soon as they saw it. It was almost like people had a way to just know a weak person when they saw one. Even if he didn't have a scared expression on his face, his gritty eyes and tensed lips looked ridiculous compared to his bigger brother's because, deep down, Sozin knew they weren't faking anything.

Sozin had often heard the age-old adage "fake it until you make it", but that didn't seem to be working for him quite so well. What if you never make it? At least there was a silver lining today—things weren't all bad. After all, he'd managed to get a second chance to prove his worth to his father, and that was something, if but a chance and not a guarantee.

As a crude but effective way of measuring a shinobi's potential, Danzo had put his sons through an initial test of swordsmanship, the same one that he had any prospective trainees under his command do in the Interior Ministry. It was only one part of a rigorous screening process to ensure that only the best of the best got into the Ministry's elite shinobi division that Danzo himself got to lead as a member of Ishida's war council. Despite his infamous cruelty, he was undoubtedly one of the most brilliant and tolerated members present on the council, as without his efforts and those of his shinobi, the war against their neighbor, Tamura, would've been going much worse than it already was. Danzo was always keen to make it clear to the other members: efficiency and cruelty were often one in the same, especially during times of war.

As for Sozin, however, he paid little attention to the distant war happening on the borders as well as the frequent excursions it required from his father. He had only one thing on his mind every day and that was becoming a shinobi himself so he could carry on the family name with pride and distinction. After he'd failed to pass the test, not even getting past the initial trial the first time when he was younger, Sozin had been pleading with his father to give him a second chance at it for a long while now, and his father had finally given in. It was a difficult decision for the old man to make. He was a seasoned veteran, and the war meant that he wasn't home very often to tend to personally attend to training of his sons; he couldn't afford to waste time and energy on anything that wouldn't bring about results, even if that anything meant neglecting one of his own in favor of his brothers.

Sozin wrung his hands together. He'd been waiting for this chance, but now that it was finally here, he wasn't sure whether to be excited or even more nervous than he already was. He was only 12, and his brothers, despite being only a few years older than him, were already much bigger and stronger. They were talented for their age—two budding prodigies in the world of shinobi—unlike Sozin. How could he possibly compete with them? Out of the corner of his eye, he could see them peering down at him with a dirty, self-satisfied smirk written all over their faces. Sozin hated that. He hated it with all his heart. They knew they were better, but he would show them and prove to father that he was just as worthy of his training and guidance as his brothers were.

This was his second opportunity, but ever since he'd been deemed hopeless by his father after squandering the first, Sozin had resorted to helping Danzo and his brothers train because he couldn't take part himself in their training sessions. Anything to get a closer look at the life of a shinobi. Although today was supposed to be his day, it was still his job to get out the equipment and set everything up for the actual training as well as the test.

In the training yard of the Daihachi estate, Danzo had Sozin bring out the equipment from the storage room as he usually did for them—this time, several rolled up tatami mats, a cutting stand, and two katanas which were Hakoda's and Ukon's. The mats would serve as targets, and once Sozin secured them upright, lined up side by side for slicing, they would be ready to start.

Sozin could feel his fingers trembling a little as he fixed everything together. His father and his brothers were watching him but especially his brothers. He could see the two of them looking his scrawny, pathetic form up and down from the corner of his vision. They probably saw him as little other than a bus boy that was only there to do their bidding. It made his hands work faster so he could get out of that compromising position as quickly as possible.

Soon, they were ready to get started. As the eldest, Hakoda was up first for the demonstration. Like his father wanted them to, him and his brother, Ukon, would demonstrate to Sozin how to properly deliver a cut since he had failed so terribly the first time.

Hakoda gripped his sword, letting a smug grin work its way onto his lips as he roughly brushed past Sozin, nearly knocking down the smaller boy.

"Hey!" Sozin called out. He scowled at Hakoda's backside, but that scowl quickly faded when he felt a large hand grip his shoulder. A shiver shot up Sozin's spine as he knew who it was.

"Watch closely if you can, little brother, and you might actually catch a glimpse of Hakoda's blade," Ukon jeered from behind him.

Sozin would've been lying to himself if he said he wasn't envious of his brothers. Hakoda and Ukon always looked so confident when they trained, and today was no different. He could see that Hakoda maintained a sturdy grip on his weapon. Steady. Strong. Hakoda stood, firm-limbed and with a formidable stance in front of the tatami mats, his posture bearing no flaws.

"Strike!" Danzo yelled.

At his father's command, Hakoda's blade snapped through the air with great speed and grace. He cut through all four of the tatami mats in one swift attack, and the severed tops fell to the ground, defeated by a perfectly executed cut.

"Impressive, my son," Danzo praised. "Aptly performed." Danzo turned his attention elsewhere, his gaze instantly snapping to Sozin. "You see, boy? That's how it is done!"

Sozin rubbed his other arm, a pitiful attempt at trying to comfort himself. If he had to pick one word in the entire world that he dreaded the most, it would probably be boy. There was no single word more harmful to him in the common tongue than simply "boy". He hated the way his father said it. Whenever he heard boy, he always tried to hear son instead, but his ears would never listen no matter how hard he imagined.

Sozin's gaze fell to his feet. How would he be able to top the performances of his brothers? They seemed to be so gifted and talented in everything that they did. It was like they were perfect. Why couldn't he be like them rather than what he was now? The two of them were the spitting image of their father and nothing less. Sozin, on the other hand—in body and in spirit, it was hard to even tell that he was related.

Hakoda twirled his blade as he returned to his spot on the sidelines right next to Sozin. He cast his little brother a smug grin when their gazes glanced off each other like fire and ice.

As the second oldest brother of the trio, Ukon was up next. He was only a year younger than Hakoda, making his technique a little less polished, but his speed and skill with a blade still proved to be close second to his eldest brother's. Smiling devilishly, he cut off the middle portion of the tatamis with a dazzling spin and slash attack that caught the attention of everyone watching.

Everyone except Hakoda at least.

Danzo and Sozin had been so focused on watching the display that neither of them noticed when Hakoda ran the length of his katana against the blunting edge of a rock. The older boy scowled at his youngest brother as he did so behind their backs. Sozin didn't have his own sword. He didn't deserve one either and would be forced to use one of theirs.

Despite his earnest attention during both demonstrations of swordsmanship, Sozin didn't glimpse much of anything from either. He supposed his lack of training meant that he didn't have the sharpened eyes of a shinobi yet, however, he didn't need the eyes of a shinobi to see how far his brothers were ahead of him. It bothered Sozin to no end, but that was okay. Once he passed his test, father would show him how to see like a ninja. With father's guidance, he was certain he could become as good as they were.

Hakoda slithered next Sozin again. "Looks like you're last, little brother. You're going to need this," he said, offering his katana to him. Sozin grabbed the lower half of the handle and tried to pull it away, but Hakoda continued to hold the weapon firmly in his grasp, keeping both of them there for a moment. Hakoda smiled ominously. "Good luck..." he said in a low voice before releasing his grip.

Sozin's eyebrows creased in confusion. Odd. He wasn't sure what that was about.

Standing on off to the side, Danzo crossed his arms. "This is your chance, boy. Prove yourself worthy of my instruction."

The two brothers exchanged conniving glances with each other.

"Knowing how to swing a sword is a basic skill," Danzo continued. "Even if you don't do it perfectly, you should at least be able to cut through an easy target like this if you are to be trained. You can do that, can't you? Your brothers were younger than you were when they did it, and they were able to do it on their first try."

Sozin nodded, his grip on the hilt of the sword tentative. "I can do it, father."

"Good..." Danzo said. "Now do what you came here to do and cut the mats, and perhaps then, you can prove to me that I am wrong about your potential."

Sozin readied himself as best as he could. He didn't know how to take any stances since he'd never been taught, so he just settled his feet into the ground held his katana out in front of him with both hands like he meant it. He'd seen his brothers doing something similar just moments earlier, and even though it felt like something was wrong with his posturing, it couldn't be completely worthless, now, could it?

Sozin focused intently on the remainder of his target. Hakoda and Ukon had taken the top and middle parts of the tatami mats, but the lower four would be his to claim. Taking in a slow breath, he breathed out just the same, trying to steady his nerves and maintain that concentration that was the hallmark of any warrior worth their weight in salt. He let his eyes graze the stone tiles of the training arena in contemplation, and then they closed as he delved deeper into the realm of thoughts, his sword lowering slightly as he tried to picture how the cut should be made. How it would feel.

And then, his eyes shot open.

There it was.

In one instant, Sozin's gaze shot up, narrowing on his target, his grip tightening on the handle of the katana. He swung with all the might in his bones, and he could feel it. His sword cutting through the air as he drove it with every fiber of his being. He believed it would cut through. It had to.

But then it stopped.

The blade stopped cold in its tracks right after the first mat.

_W-what? No!_

Sozin didn't want to look. The world seemed to slow down, and all the good feelings and warm emotions he had been so excitedly expecting immediately turned to mud right before his very eyes. He stared in crushing defeat as the single piece of tatami mat he had managed to cleave through fell depressingly to the ground, rolling until it came to a grinding halt in front of his toes. He had been so close and yet so far. It was like ash slipping through his delicate fingers. He'd felt it in his bones; if his cut had just been a little bit better, it would've went through, but it wasn't better. His best hadn't been enough.

Sozin stood there frozen and agape, silent like every part of him had just been mashed up and thrown away. He turned, and he saw his father giving him the same look he and everyone else always did. A look of disappointment. A look of shame. Right then and there, he knew what this meant. It wasn't the first time he'd seen it, but that didn't make it hurt any less. Whether it was his first failure or his last, it was failure all the same.

"Still, you can't get past the first trial? Get out, boy!" Sozin heard his father snarl from the sidelines. "Get out of my sight if you know what's good for you! You're a disgrace!"

Sozin felt his heart sink into his legs.

"No, wait!" Sozin said, lowering to the ground in front of Danzo. He leaned forward and desperately bowed his head on his hands and knees. "Please, father! I'm sorry for failing you! I'll do better next time. I beg you to give me another chance!" Sozin pleaded.

"Boy..." Danzo warned darkly, "You dare defy my will? You continue to waste my time! Enough of this nonsense! Accept your failure and leave!"

"I don't mean to waste your time. I only wish to please you. I am your loyal son..." Sozin implored, desperation in his voice.

Danzo gazed down upon the thing at his feet. His eyes narrowed into a grim stare, and his expression hardened, bitter and icy. "No..." he whispered, gritting his teeth, "You aren't."

"F-father?" Sozin hesitated. He looked up but found himself paralyzed by fear.

The last thing he remembered was his father's foot hurtling towards his face.

All of a sudden there was a great darkness, and things became deathly quiet.

It was quiet for a while. A long while, in fact. There didn't seem to be any pain anymore—no worries or earthly concerns of any sort—but in that darkness, something, or someone, had decided to make itself known. A strange, foreign presence that bore nothing but ill will for others and corrupted energies spoke up into the abyss.

"One day, you will learn to walk the path..." a sinister voice drawled. "One day, you will become stronger and more terrible than all of them. You don't know who I am now, but you will. We aren't too different, you and I. In due time, you shall know my ways... Our ways..."

The voice seemed to fade away, and with it, any semblance of consciousness or memory.

Some time later, when nighttime had fallen over the mountainous Ishidan countryside, Sozin found himself awake again and in aching pain.

Blinking, Sozin came to his senses as he opened his eyes. His memory was fuzzy, but he realized that he was lying on familiar ground with a terrible migrane. His face hurt more than he ever thought it could. He took a second to gather himself, groaning as he sat up into a weak slump. He rubbed the back of his head—it hurt there as well, throbbing relentlessy like someone was knocking on it with a rock and had been for the past hour. Sozin figured he must've hit his head on the cold stone and blacked out if it wasn't from the force of his father's kick.

"Oh..." Sozin groaned again, shutting his eyes tight. He placed a hand on his temple. The pain was beginning to set in even more now that he was fully conscious.

Sozin was no stranger to pain, but that didn't mean its company was easy to tolerate. He was glad a kick to the face was all he'd gotten this time. He had endured far worse from the likes of his father and not to mention his brothers. Sure, his father's beatings hurt, but they never seemed to hurt as much as the disappointment in his eyes did every time he saw it. He was a bad son. How could he be a bad son?

In the past, Sozin had prayed like his mother had told him to. For many nights when he was a young boy, Sozin would pray to be strong and talented like his brothers were so that his father could be proud of him for once, but that day never seemed to come. And so he'd stopped praying a long time ago. He had never gained as much size nor as much strength as them, nor had he ever been as skillful, and it didn't look like he was ever going to. Sozin didn't understand it. He just wanted to be better. Was that too much to ask?

Dizzy in the head, Sozin somehow conjured together enough energy to stand up, his wary hands out to his sides in case he fell. He made his way off the training grounds and back to the main part of the estate. As he walked, he couldn't help but drag his legs. He wanted to collapse onto his futon and fall asleep again. He just had to get to his room. Every part of him hoped he didn't run into his father on the way there, lest he incur further punishment from his disgraceful presence. With confused eyes, Sozin realized that he had never seen his brothers suffer from his father's brutality, unlike him. Never in his life. Father had always treated them well and praised them for qualities that they'd been merely born with while Sozin was punished for his, like he had any control over that. In some morbid and cruel way, it was funny to think about, and the thought reminded him of something his father had said to him before about his troubles:

"Understand this, boy: Effort and results are not the same. Those who persist are merely stubborn, and stubbornness is little more than the strength of the weak. That is why your toils, no matter how great, are meaningless to me when nothing will ever come of them. You were simply not meant for greatness. That's all there is to it."

Sozin sighed. His pace started to slow to a crawl as he stared with pensive eyes at the ground. Ever since his father had told him that, he'd often found himself wondering if it really was the truth.

It wasn't long before Sozin was back within the walls of the estate. Plastered amongst rocky hills, the Daihachi residence was made up of several grand buildings. The center of the residence contained a pond and garden that separated the buildings framing all of its sides and led to the arched wooden entrance at the front. As would be expected from the home of the Great Mist Raven, an important Ishidan leader, the design of the estate was marked by gently-curved roofs and ornate architecture, exuding an air of elegance and stature. It's elevated position gave it an imperious view of the surrounding area and of Wakota as well, the nearby village.

Unsurprisingly, the residence was just as lavish on the inside as it was on the outside. Tatami mats, for walking rather than target practice, and only the finest wood had been used to make up the floor, and the walls were made of either wood or thin, decorative paper—all in keeping with traditional design. The tatami gave the rooms a distinct fragrance, grassy and herbal, that Sozin always noticed when he walked inside.

Sozin headed through the hallways. The walk through the estate's living quarters was a slow and ruminative one. He passed other servants along the way, some darting their eyes or glancing their heads at the trail of blood that had dried out of his nose. Eventually, he found himself at the door to his room, but when he opened the door, he wasn't expecting to see his mother there sitting on a chair in the darkened corner. The dissatisfied look on her face made his heart stop and his blood freeze almost instantly.

"Why can't you be more like your brothers?" Ursa lamented, staring at the floor in front of her. "Why did I end up stuck with you?"

"Mother?" Sozin croaked in apprehension. Black and purple bruises tattered her orbits. He had no doubt about who those were from.

"Where have you been, Sozin?" Ursa asked in harrowingly soft but intense voice. She was low and steady like she wasn't trying to spook him. "Do you know what's happened in the last few hours? I told you not to ask your father about training again." Ursa glowered, rising like some sort of apparition. She approached the boy. Looming over him, she whisked her fingers across her damaged face. "I warned you, you disobeyed me, and now look what's happened."

"I'm sorry, mother, I didn't think-"

Ursa clawed him hard across the cheek, digging her nails under the skin and quickly drawing blood. Sozin grimaced and clutched the side of his face.

"Enough of what you didn't think!" she shrieked, filling the room with her piercing, venomous yell. "I'm tired of your excuses! Your father hates me because of your failure." Ursa leered down with wild eyes at Sozin's smaller form.

"Please... Father already punished me," Sozin said tremulously, shrinking into broken smithereens. He tried to protect himself with hands, hiding behind them from whatever she was about to do next.

"No... Not enough, apparently..." his mother sneered, eyeing the dried blood running down to the boy's upper lip. "He hates me for giving birth to a child like you. You were a mistake. I should've listened to him when he told me to get rid of you. Look at what you've brought upon me!"

Sozin's eyes widened. His tongue seemed to skip from the pain and shock. "W-what? How can you say that? You've always told me you love me."

"I thought I did, but I can't put up with it any longer," Ursa said. "Ever since you came into our lives, you've brought nothing but disgrace upon this family and misery upon me. I suppose it's my fault. Unlike your father, I've been far too lenient with you, but that's all going to change tonight. You will learn your place... one way or another."

Ursa raised her hand.


	3. The Stranger

Sozin felt his cheek with the pads of his fingers. He winced in pain. The wounds from last night were still relatively fresh, and they would leave behind a scar, no doubt.

He stared at his reflection as the water's surface glistened in the afternoon sunlight. His eyes were hazy. Langorous. Swimming with thought. He let himself sink against the railing of the wooden bridge that went over the pond in the courtyard. As the heart of the Daihachi residence, the entire courtyard had been organized into a beautiful and carefully designed zen garden. Right now, he was alone, but he liked to come here often. Of course, even though this was one of Sozin's favorite spots to linger out of the entire estate, it wasn't doing much to cheer him up at the moment. He used to come with his mother before she turned into what she was now, and they would sit around and talk and feed the ducks and koi fish that made this sedative place their home. Even though she probably wanted nothing to do with him anymore, part of Sozin still wished she were at his side, thinking back to how they used to get along. Then again, he felt his cheek once more, and another part was glad she wasn't around. Still, the silence of the courtyard was beginning to get to him, and it was always nice to have someone to talk to. The idea of having another person to confide in was sometimes more tempting than he could comfortably handle.

Sozin let out a depressed sigh. Despite everything he had done, the silence had always been there to either comfort him or harass him—an ally of some sort because he didn't always want to be rolling around in the messiness and misery that human relationships brought but also an enemy at times whenever he did happen to desire companionship. And he most certainly did. For better or worse, even if you were a loner or an outcast, it was just part of being a person. It liked to mock him, a paradoxically painful beast seemingly unknown to everyone except himself. It was everywhere he looked. Whenever he glanced at his sides, where there should've been friends, there was only the thought of friends. And whenever he looked inside himself, where there should've been happiness, there was only the thought of happiness. He hated it so much. Things had been that way for as long as he could remember, and, at times, it was almost too much to bear. But he managed, somehow. He always managed.

Sozin reached into a small bag of feed he had brought with him and threw some into the pond. A few koi fish immediately gathered around and gobbled up the food from amongst the lily pads.

As he stared at his reflection, Sozin could feel the weight of the silence slowly crushing him as he sank into its depths for yet another day. Sozin didn't like many things, but he held a particular kind of loathing for his own life. It didn't really help that he was becoming more and more of a pessimist as he got older, the proverbial glass just emptying before his very eyes, but for now, and who knows how much longer, he could still see the good in life and could try to keep himself going. On the bright side, at least he was part of a rich family and never had to worry about having an empty stomach. It was one of the perks of being wealthy, but for all its glamour, money could never buy what he lacked the most.

Sozin let his guard down for a moment—a bad idea in the presence of negative thoughts. His heart took advantage and seemed to finally twist from all the pressure that had built up inside of him from the past few months, unraveling and lashing out like a coil into a harsh grimace that immediately found its way onto the boy's face. Sozin's life had never been that great outside of home, but now, his only and final salvation—his mother— wasn't there for him either. The one thing that had always kept him going was his desire to become a shinobi like his father was, so he could make him and his mother proud. Like his brothers were getting to do. He'd lost his father's confidence years ago, but now both halves of that dream seemed like such a distant fantasy.

Snorting in disdain, anger, an unfamiliar emotion, began to rise to the surface. Sozin still couldn't believe that father had rejected him yesterday. He had tried his best and isn't that what mattered? The only reason father favored his brothers was because they had been born with something he hadn't. They were older, they were bigger, stronger, and faster due to no fault of his own. They had potential as father called it. The potential to be shinobi. Even though that's the way things were, he did have one thing over his brothers that father cared little for and that was intelligence. But was that enough for him to be happy?

Sozin's ears seemed to perk up. In the distance, he recognized the familiar sound of two certain pairs of footsteps approaching him. Speak of the devil, he thought.

Usually, the courtyard acted as a nice little safe haven for Sozin. It was a place away from his siblings, his father, and any of the servants on the estate grounds who might bother him, but it seems the peace wouldn't go undisturbed today. He didn't have to look to be sure of who was coming. Their padded shinobi footwear, tabi boots, made much less noise than the click-clack of the wooden geta sandals most of the servants wore.

Sozin allowed himself a sideways glance, hoping that maybe, just maybe, if he looked he might actually be wrong about who was coming his way.

He wasn't.

Sozin averted his eyes. Not daring to look at his brothers, he preferred to stare straight down into the waters below.

"How's your face, little brother?" Ukon asked, strolling up alongside Sozin like he actually cared.

"Don't call me that," Sozin cut back.

"I'll call you whatever I want," Ukon said. He leaned over the railing and pressed against Sozin with his bigger body. He cocked his head. The daggers in his staring eyes made a beeline right for Sozin's own. "Unless there's something you're gonna do about that?"

"What do you two want from me this time?" Sozin asked joylessly. "Here to beat me up some more?"

Hakoda came slinking over to Sozin's other side and trapped him inbetween the two brothers. Like a pair of wolves, they were, dwarfing a young lamb. "No, actually," Hakoda said, his lips curving upwards into a snide smile. "We're here to talk to you. We saw what father did to you yesterday. Mother wasn't too happy either, was she?"

"So? What's it to you? You've never cared before," Sozin said.

"What's it to us?" Hakoda grinned and let a sly chuckle escape his lips. "A lot, actually. Y'see, we want to strike you a deal."

"Oh, yeah?" Sozin raised his eyebrows. "Why would I ever want to make a deal with you two?"

Hakoda and Ukon exchanged knowing smirks with each other.

"Because we can both benefit from it. Just hear us out," Ukon said. "We both know father won't train you anymore after your spectacular failure yesterday, but we also know you still want to become a shinobi. Obviously, you can't anymore. At least not overtly, maybe. But..." he said, his voice turning persuasive, "...what if I told you we'd be willing to train you behind father's back if you stole his scroll for us?"

Sozin's eyes widened.

_Father's scroll?_

Sozin had only laid eyes upon it once, and that was many years ago when his father had strictly told him and his brothers never to mess with it until he deemed them ready. All him and his brothers knew was that the scroll harbored instructions for how to perform a forbidden shinobi technique. Many forbidden techniques existed throughout the lands, some detailed in scrolls, like the one his father had, while others were too valuable for even that and were only passed down orally in training from master to student. The techniques were secret in nature and for good reason. They were dangerous, not only in what they could allow the user to do once mastered, but also in the threat they presented to someone attempting to learn them. If the techniques were ever to become widespread, any one person could become too powerful from knowing so many, and that would bode certain destruction for any who opposed the practitioner. Thus, all the forbidden techniques were heavily guarded by the few who knew them. In the past, many unprepared warriors have died attempting to learn forbidden techniques. Clearly, his brothers thought they had progressed enough in their training to warrant a try.

"What? Are you two crazy?" Sozin exclaimed. "Do you know what father would do if he found out we were trying to get the scroll from him?"

"Exactly. That's why we want you to steal it for us," Hakoda said. "Think about it. You'll get to be a shinobi in return."

"You've already earned yourself father's scorn anyway," Ukon reminded Sozin. "What difference will it make if he catches you?"

Sozin shuffled in his feet. Getting the scroll in exchange for having his dream fulfilled did sound nice. It was wrong but it felt so right. "I don't know..." Sozin said, the consideration in his eyes bouncing back and forth. "It's dishonorable."

"Since when has father ever placed any importance on honor?" Hakoda shot back.

"True—you're right about that. But to go behind his back like this? That's different," Sozin said. "Besides, do you even know where it is?"

"No, but you're smart, you can figure that out, right? Look, how about we sweeten the deal then?" Ukon said. "If you steal the scroll for us, we'll even teach you the forbidden technique once we learn it for ourselves."

"Ukon..." Hakoda chimed up, the dissatisfaction in his voice ringing clear. "This isn't what we talked about."

"What?" Ukon said like it was no big deal, "If it means he'll get us the scroll, that's a good thing. I doubt he'll even be able to learn the technique anyway. After all, he's only a runt."

Hakoda crossed his arms. A grumble of agreement was all he responded with.

Sozin pursed his lips at their remarks but decided not to say anything. Reminding himself of what he had to gain from this deal, he scrunched up his eyebrows as he thought about it, entertaining the idea. To become a shinobi was great enough as it is, but to learn a secret technique as well? He supposed it was wrong to betray his father's trust like this and go behind his back, but perhaps if he got a real chance to train he could finally show him that he was just as good as his brothers. It could be a surprise. His father would have to recognize him at that point, if only through sheer undeniability of his progress. Everyone would start paying attention.

Sozin glanced to his sides. His brothers were waiting in anticipation.

"All right..." he murmured. "I'll do it..."

And just like that, the next thing Sozin knew was that he was at the door to his father's room.

Off to the side, Hakoda and Ukon stood at the end of the hallway just beyond the corner. They bid Sozin a commencing nod before disappearing into the rest of the living quarters.

Part of Sozin was excited. In a way, this was like his first real shinobi mission. He figured that this was the most likely place the scroll was going to be. It was the only room in the entire residence that him and his brothers weren't allowed to go in. His father had never given them a reason, but for Sozin, his father didn't have to. To him, the answer was as clear as a crystal day.

A vigilant and cautious person by nature, Sozin glanced down both ends of the hallway, listening carefully to make sure no servants were coming. When he thought the coast was clear, he quietly slid open the paper doors to the room—doors which had been designed magnificiently with the image of a raven on them, father's infamous spirit animal—and slipped inside. He knew father wouldn't be in his room. Given the startling developments on the front, the Interior Ministry had requested his counsel at an important war meeting today, and he would be gone for quite a while. Even so, Sozin decided it would be best if he didn't waste any time searching for the scroll; he didn't want to stick around in case his father happened to come back. But that was the thing. Where could the scroll possibly be hidden? A room seemed like a small place, but shinobi knew better than any other kind of warrior how to make use of limited resources.

Rays of late evening light filtered in through the two paper windows in the room, giving it a distinct orange tinge. At the other end of the room, opposite the door, was a desk and a couple of bookshelves packed to the brim with father's literature. Paintings of great shinobi masters from past generations and all across the continent looked outwards from the side walls as though they were there to keep watch. It'd been so long since Sozin had seen this place that he had almost forgotten what it'd looked like. In particular, Sozin's eyes lingered upon a certain corner of the room where father's old shinobi gear was on display from when he was nothing more than a low-level grunt. Sozin's lips raised into a smile just looking at the clothing in all its magnificence. Each and every piece for the arms, the chest, the legs, and the head all combined into one grand outfit that made his nerves tingle with excitement. Someday, he would have his own gear. He would make it so.

Snapping out of his trance, Sozin remembered what he had come here to get. All great shinobi kept their focus on the mission, so that's what he was going to do.

Sozin checked the entire room: the walls; the desk; the drawers; the bookshelf; behind the bookshelf after struggling to move it; behind the books in the bookshelf after painstakingly removing each one and then having to put them back; behind the paintings; under the chair; under the desk; under, behind, and below other furniture; pretty much anywhere he could think of that could contain the scroll, all to no avail. As he searched, the light bleeding into the room through the paper only got dimmer and dimmer, signalling that the day was coming to an end. Sozin's hands were beginning to ache from everything that he'd been doing with them and his mind wasn't faring much better from all the racing thoughts and wild ideas he was now forced to consider and explore if he hoped to find the scroll at this point. But like any rational person, he also had to consider another, less attractive possibility. Sozin was starting to think he had been wrong.

_Damn it!_

_It should be in here!_

But it wasn't. At least not in the places he had checked, and he had checked pretty much everywhere.

Was he just wrong?

Sozin was open to the possibility, but how could that be? As was often the case when he needed to do some heavy thinking, Sozin's index finger and thumb had found itself cradling his jaw from between his lips and down to his chin. His eyes glazed over and he seemed to lose focus on the material world. Sozin supposed it would be unwise for someone to keep a scroll as important as father's in any normal place. It would have to be in a secret compartment of some sort, and he hadn't really checked inside anything during his search.

_Hmm,_ Sozin thought. _That would explain my lack of success._

With that in mind, Sozin went back and forth across the room, doing a second sweep of the area to see if he had missed anything. He decided to check the bookshelf again—planning on opening up each and every book in case there was a hollow one if he had to—and just then, as he walked across the middle portion of the floor, he felt as though he was walking on something cavernous. The empty sound his heel made when it hit the floor was particularly arousing and distinct to the ear. It had been a specific section of planks that caused the sound. A clue, perhaps? Sozin walked over that portion of the floor again, this time stepping on the wood with careful intention so as to test it. The empty clack of his heel against the wooden planks was as clear as day. Whatever was lying under his foot was certainly not solid all the way through like a normal floor would be.

Of course! He had forgotten to check the ceiling or the floor—two places that seemed so obvious in retrospect.

Well, then. Now he felt stupid. How could he have missed that with all the walking around the room that he'd been doing? He knew he had walked over that particular area multiple times.

To be fair to himself, he hadn't been looking for anything like this earlier because hadn't considered the possibility of a hollow floor, so the sound would've have been easier to miss than if he had already known to search for it. That's probably why the sound had went over his head until just now. Under normal circumstances, he probably would've blown off the strange hollowness as just a quirk of the floor, but luckily, he managed to make the connection. With shinobi, you could never be sure. The sound had to be something important.

Bending down, Sozin tried to wedge his fingers into the cracks between the floorboards but found them too big for even his own slender fingers to manage, let alone his father's. If that was the case, then for his father to access the scroll himself, considering the man's burly fingers, he probably kept a tool of some sort around somewhere specfically for the task. Sozin would need something thin that he could use to pry the floorboards off. Earlier, he recalled seeing a small, ornate tanto blade embellished with designs on his father's desk—little more than a paperweight or so it seemed. Immediately, Sozin went to retrieve it. The short blade had a grippy handle that sat well within the boy's small hands, but the grip wasn't to make stabbing or assassination any easier. It was an exquisite blade, more of a trophy than a weapon, and a fine reward for his father's long and decorative service as an agent of the Ministry.

Wasting no time, Sozin jammed the blade into the cracks of the floor. The floorboards gave way without much resistance, almost seeming to unlock as Sozin pried off several of them. He revealed exactly what he had suspected: a secret compartment hiding right under his nose.

An aged smell wafted out and met Sozin's nostrils. The scroll was the only thing inside the empty box of space besides dust and a little bit of dirt. It sat neatly upon a small wooden rack. Yellow and moldered from the ages, the scroll itself had certainly seen better days in the past. The scroll was exactly how Sozin had imagined it would be this entire time he'd been looking for it. Frayed along the edges and torn in some places, the delicate parchment had been rolled up and tied secure with a beautiful red string that was just waiting to be undone.

Judging from the level of decay, the technique contained within the scroll was most certainly an ancient one. How did his father ever manage to get his hands on this? Many scrolls containing forbidden techniques had been lost to history and those that weren't were a closely guarded possession by their owners. Considering the fact that his father was a shinobi, Sozin figured he must've assassinated someone, stolen it, recieved it as a form of payment, or maybe even gotten it as a gift like the tanto was. Regardless of how his father got his hands on the scroll, that didn't really matter right now. All that mattered is that he would get to be a ninja like his brothers had promised him.

Sozin picked the scroll up with great care and set it aside on the floor. As much as he would've liked to drop everything right then and there and start reading the scroll, it was best if he didn't stick around. Well, at least that's what the rational part of him was saying to do. His thoughts were already starting to churn and pick up speed. Like a descending avalanche, curious thoughts moved quickly towards the contents of that weathered piece of parchment. Curiosity managed to get the better of him, and Sozin decided to refrain from putting the floorboards back in place for now, instead allowing his fingers to work at the string binding the rolled up scroll. A quick glance couldn't hurt, right?

Sozin was careful when unravelling the scroll, making sure not to grab it from where the slight tears were on the fringes—it seemed like the slightest misapplication of force would be enough to make those tears even bigger and that was the last thing he wanted.

Holding the scroll lengthwise, the title read in calligraphed kanji:

_Breath of Water_

_Aquatic Breathing Technique_

The title had been meticulously written in black ink. Below the title was a modest sketch of a person diving into water. There wasn't much to read, the drawing itself took up most of the space on the paper, but the instructions to perform the technique were detailed on the sides of the scroll, starting on the left side and picking up again over to the right.

Sozin ran his eyes all over the paper. The back of his neck tingled just skimming over some of the words.

_The opportunity to breath is the opportunity to live for a shinobi. One must focus their soul on the breath of water and nothing else. In doing so, one may breathe the breath that cannot be taken. Savoring and memorizing the feeling will enhance the effects of the technique and reduce pain._

The sound of steps met the boy's ear.

Sozin tore his eyes off the scroll. His brothers again?

Sozin strained to listen, the hair on his nape then standing up like a frightened animal. Fear instantly replaced the tingle of excitement. These steps were heavy, like a silent tiger making its presence known, and they moved with decisive purpose.

The only person those steps could belong to...

An ominous weight bore down upon Sozin's shoulders. He felt as though the very fabric of his spirit had been suddenly ripped out of him by the tendrils of a cold hand. His thoughts immediately went back to the scroll. He didn't want to think about what would happen to him if he was caught with it red-handed, and he didn't have time to think about it either. He hastily stuffed the scroll back where it belonged, and then his hands were fumbling with the floorboards, desperately working to hide his intrusion. The sound of footfall only got louder and louder with each harrowing step. Sozin managed to get the last floorboard in place and shoot up into a standstill as soon as the doors slid open.

Sozin turned around.

Their eyes met.

"Boy..." Danzo started in a low voice. His father's frame took up the entirety of the doorway.

Sozin's insides began to cave in. "Father, I can explai-"

In a flash of movement, crushing pain seared its way across the side of Sozin's skull. He staggered sideways, nearly collapsing into a heap on the ground from merely the flat of his father's palm.

"Explain what?" Danzo exploded, bursting into the room. "Explain why you were snooping around in my room? There is no excuse for trespassing of any sort! I leave for a short while and this is what you do?"

"I meant no disrespect," Sozin apologized weakly, peering up at his father.

Danzo leered at Sozin. "This is more than disrespect... This is a violation of my privacy... What did you mean, exactly, if not that?"

Without hesitation, Danzo grabbed Sozin by the thin of his wrist and hoisted him off the floor to eye level, all with one hand like it was nothing. Danzo's massive hands, heavy like the end of a sledgehammer, engulfed Sozin's forearm. The only thing that stopped the man from doing what he was about to do next was a third person speaking up from behind.

"Father, we warned him not to go in there, but he wouldn't listen," the voice said.

"Ukon!" Sozin blurted out.

"Yeah," Hakoda added. "He tried to convince us to join him as well. You should've seen the grin on his face when he realized you were gone for the day."

Sozin's heart dropped like a falling star. The devils were both standing there hiding another dirty smirk behind their faces. For a brief moment, Sozin wasn't sure what to feel. Shame? Misery? Anger? It all wanted to wash over him and drag him out to sea into its dark depths.

Desperation flooded Sozin's voice. "Don't listen to them, father! They're lying, they're-"

Danzo's other hand gripped him by the neck.

Sozin choked. He tried to speak, but his words coming out in a sickening gurgle.

"How dare you defy me, boy..." Danzo growled. With a single arm, the man threw the boy across the room towards the door. Sozin stumbled back, falling rearwards onto mortified hands in front of his brothers. "You don't belong here," Danzo said. "Leave and don't come back."

"What? But father-"

"Leave, boy! Or you'll incur my wrath for a third time this week!" Danzo stormed. "Don't come back until you've thought about what you've done!"

Sozin's cheeks burned.

The air became deathly quiet at the drop of a hat.

Sozin glanced furtively between his father and his brothers, wishing so badly for the world to just swallow him up and hide him away, never to be seen again. In the silence, they all stared at him, and again, they gave him the same look of disgrace everyone in his life had ever given him. Their penetrating gazes, so full of contempt and disappointment, seemed to shoot right through Sozin's body like a harpoon, strapping him down so he could drown in the suffering of his humiliation. Hakoda was smiling. Ukon was smiling. And Sozin's legs had turned into jelly all in one traitorous instant. No matter how many times he'd been on the recieving end of that look, it still hurt all the same because he knew things would never change. People would always look down on him, and even his own family were no less willing.

Everything seemed to be so pointless right then and there. Sozin almost didn't want to get up— part of him wanting to lie down, and rot, and just accept that things were always going to be this way no matter what he did—but somehow, from that strange well deep in the back of his mind, the boy gathered up enough strength to pull himself together and muster onto his feet. Standing up lasted for what seemed like an eternity. All he could think about was their eyes and how they judged him so harshly and without remorse. When Sozin finally stood, his sheer will being the only thing binding him together, his brothers were standing inbetween the doorway, blocking his exit as though to deter him from leaving. At this point, Sozin didn't care about them anymore. He just wanted to start running and get as far away from this place as possible, from his brothers and his father.

Sozin pushed past his brothers, knocking into their heavy shoulders as tears began to well up in his eyes. He started down the hallway. Though his feet hadn't been shackled, they weighed him down nonetheless. As he plodded along, he could feel the piercing stare of his brothers burning a hole through the back of his head when they turned to watch him go. Sozin grinded his teeth, muttering in disgust. Part of him should've known this would happen, but he'd let his desires get ahead of his rationality. If he had just put the floorboards back... How could he have been so stupid? How could father be? Father hadn't bothered to listen to him at all!

Father always favored his brothers and gave them the benefit of the doubt. The fact that it had happened again for something as serious as this stirred Sozin's insides with mixed emotions: pain; fear; regret; and perhaps something new this time, a spark of a feeling that made his blood boil and his fist curl up silently into a ball. Why did he even care about his father? Why did he care about anyone? He shouldn't care about someone who never bothered to do anything for him. Father was just like everyone else. Everyone else was only there to laugh at him, or use him, or hurt him in some way, and he had never been given any reason to think otherwise.

Strays of darkness clouded Sozin's eyes.

This was the last time he would fall for their tricks ever again.

In that moment, a dejected grumble, almost a cry, escaped Sozin's lips, and he remembered. If he had just been born a little bit different, things would be better for him right now. People wouldn't think of him as a target anymore. Father would be proud of him like he was proud of his brothers. Mother would too. But that was the saddest part. He wasn't like his brothers. He was a scrawny, frail, talentless boy, and there was nothing he could do about that now or later. There was nothing more worthless to world than that. That much he knew for sure—the world reminded him of it every day.

There truly was nowhere to go, was there?

For a while, Sozin didn't want to do anything other than let his head hang and his eyes stare at the ground as he walked. He drifted aimlessly down a lonely dirt path, not sure where he was heading or if he even wanted to head anywhere. It was hard to walk, like dragging his feet through sludge and mud, but it gave him something to do. In the distance, the sun had nearly finished setting behind one of the many mountains belonging to the countryside. Dashes of pink, and orange, and red managed to escape just beyond the horizon and paint over its blue canvas.

After a little bit of walking, Sozin's legs loosened up, and soon, the heavy numbness saturating his bones subsided, replaced by pangs of hunger in his stomach. Confronted with this new sensation, Sozin decided to walk towards town. He glanced to the sky, looking past the thick forest canopy. Though it was late, he could see past all the leaves and saw that night hadn't fully gathered yet. Most establishments wouldn't close until well after dark.

Sprawled out inside a large valley, the village of Wakota was surrounded by tall, snow-capped peaks. Dark trees engulfed the perimeter of the village, but the interior was marked by vibrant cherry blossoms. Growing ever more beautiful as the night drew closer, Wakota's paper lanterns shimmered with an orange glow amongst the shadowed marshland. They were scattered all over town like stars in the night sky, beacons in the darkness.

Now that Sozin was here, he just had to find his way to his favorite spot in all of Wakota. Even for someone like him who had lived here since birth, that wouldn't be an easy task. It'd gotten easier, of course, as anything did with practice, but the entire village was a large and densely-populated maze of twisting alleys and unusual architecture. All of it had been integrated into the surrounding nature. Frequent flooding necessitated a push skyward, so stilt houses and buildings were not uncommon in risk-prone places, particularly at the fish market by the river that cut right through the center of town. The highs and lows of the mossy landscape meant there were multi-tiered neighborhoods at varying elevations that made navigating the area still a significant challenge at times for residents, visitors, and any potential invaders alike.

Ladders and ropelines were everywhere and people could always be seen on the rooftops. Even at this hour, the streets down below were still loud with the shuffling of feet and sounds of bustling commerce. The blend of chaos that the noises and people created at any level of the village made navigation more difficult than it should ever be at times, but the ruckus was beginning to die down as the day did. If Sozin ever lost his way, a little trick he'd devised for him to get his bearings was to simply find the river flowing through town—the fact that it ran straight through the middle and out the other side made it great for figuring out where he and everything else was.

Sozin placed a hand on his stomach. Feeling it rumble from the hunger, he began weaving his way through the various buildings and people littering the crowd—peasants, merchants, and nobles all going about their business. He was craving dumplings right now, and if there was anything that cheered him up, it was certainly his favorite food. He had a particular restaurant in mind that made them well, and he wanted to get there before they closed for the day. In the interest of time, Sozin decided to take a shortcut through an alley.

Sozin kept his eyes at his feet. The sound of voices from the crowd muffled as he entered the alley, and it was enough to hear his own footsteps. He thought he was alone, but then dark shadow appeared at the top of his vision, and he raised his head.

There was someone in front of him blocking his exit. The light obscured their face.

A dark chill ran down Sozin's spine. The crowds had all but vanished. Sensing a hidden malice, he turned to leave, but then someone else appeared at the other end as well.

"Going somewhere, brother?" the second figure said.

_Hakoda!_

_Ukon and him must've followed me._

Sozin glanced at both ends of the alley, clenching his jaw. A mix of fear, pain, and anger coursed through his veins. "What the hell do you guys want? Just leave me alone! You betrayed me... like the two of you always do!" he cried.

"I'm afraid we can't do that, little brother..." Hakoda said, inspecting his fist.

"Father let him off too easy, didn't he, Hakoda?" Ukon said.

"Why did you lie to father?" Sozin demanded. "You didn't have to do that! You made things worse!"

"Because you got caught." Ukon glared in dissatisfaction. "We told you we wanted the scroll, and you failed us."

"Can't you do anything right?" Hakoda said.

Ukon flashed Sozin a murderous grin. "It's only proper that we finish what father didn't."

The two brothers began to stalk towards Sozin. This wasn't the first time his brothers had beaten him up, but for once, he wasn't stifled by his fear—he was roused by it. He wanted them to feel what he had felt his whole life. He wanted them to feel a blow from the weak.

And so he threw a punch.

Sozin aimed it at Hakoda, but the larger boy caught the attack within his palm as though it was child's play. Sozin's stomach twisted into a horrifying knot as Hakoda dug his fingernails into the back of Sozin's hand. It was impossible to hide the slight quaver in his voice as Sozin's eyes darted from his brother's hand to his predatory face. Hakoda's hand dwarfed Sozin's own.

Sozin desperately tried to yank his hand away.

"Hold him down, Ukon," Hakoda said.

Sozin threw another punch, but Hakoda caught that one as well and shoved him into Ukon's grasp. Sozin tried to resist, but Ukon clamped down onto his arms, twisting them behind his back until there was no chance of escape.

In the next instant, Hakoda's fist hammered into the Sozin's gut, stopping his breath short. As the wind left his body so did his energy, and he was helpless as his lungs froze up and he began to choke for air. Then the next blow came, harder than the first. Sozin tried to scream for help, but no words came out, only a desperate wheeze begging for mercy.

Despite the pain, Sozin began to thrash and buck, but Ukon's grip hardened as though his hands were shackles of iron. Hakoda continued to lay into him, the pain of each strike building on the previous and draining the boy's will to fight back. Sozin's lungs burned in agony. Looking through eyes glazed with fear, he saw Hakoda's own eyes festering with the same an emptiness and hatred Sozin had come to grow so familiar with. This time, Sozin knew Hakoda wouldn't stop until he'd beaten him into a bloody pulp.

Sozin's eyes filmed over. He drifted mindlessly along the border of consciousness, urged by the constant agony to fall over off the edge. Time quickly dissolved. He began to only think from one strike to the next, seconds turning into stabs of pain, thoughts into a mass of haze and confusion. He didn't know how long this was going to take. His eyes turned half-lidded. The blows just kept coming, relentless and unforgiving. Eventually, his brothers realized what was happening, and a punch snapped across Sozin's jaw, whiplash jolting him awake. The shock was enough for him to notice the gut-wrenching throb in his stomach. Hakoda continued to pound against the same spot over, and over, and over, and over again, desiring nothing but to grind his little brother down into a helpless mess. Sozin wanted to black out from the sheer pain alone, but they weren't going to let him. They wanted him to feel every hit as it shattered through his body.

Vaguely, amongst the twisting of his intestines and the slop of bone into soft flesh, Sozin still possessed enough consciousness to feel as Ukon placed a hand on the small of his back to brace him against the blows. Just when he thought things couldn't get any more painful, he realized that it would keep him from riding with every fistful of suffering the punches brought.

Even though it was only coming from one area, the pain paralyzed Sozin to the tips of his fingers and toes, filling his senses and making him well up with tears. They wanted to see him cry, but he would do everything in his power to avoid giving them the satisfaction.

Sozin fought and resisted the water in his eyes as much as any boy in his position could. After what seemed like an eternity, somewhere, deep in the back of his mind, he heard his brothers talking—the words blurred, angry almost, perhaps at his defiance—and Ukon let him go. Sozin almost thought it was over, but before relief could wash over him, he was sent flying back from a bone-crushing kick to the ribs, the crack emanating. For a brief moment, Sozin was weightless, but then the harsh cobblestone grinded into his back through his robes.

The ground, although cold, clammy, and unwelcoming, was like heaven to Sozin. It offered him a short respite from the onslaught of blows. Writhing in pain, he coughed and sputtered, sucking in whatever air he could. It hurt to breathe, but it hurt more not to. Lying there, something resembling a grin formed on his face. Somehow, the cold embrace of cobblestone was more comforting than the arms of his own brothers, and Sozin couldn't help but see the funny side in that. Was this how it should be? Was this what it meant to be a family? A weakened, morbid chuckle was all Sozin could manage but even something as small as that was much to the ire of the other two who seemed to think that he was laughing at them. Perhaps they just couldn't stand to see him laugh at all in the face of their brutality. With what little strength he had left, Sozin propped himself onto his elbow, gazing wearily with that newfound grin of his at his two brothers. Their expressions told him everything. It seemed to trigger something inside of them. They would show him no mercy, but what was there left to show? They had already shown him everything they needed to.

Ukon leered at Sozin, his eyes flaring in dark mania. "I'm going to knock those teeth right out of your fucking mouth!" he snarled. The older boy strided towards his little brother, winding up for what Sozin presumed would be a kick to the face. Then he saw it. His leg snapping at him and about to break his jaw.

But it never did.

Out of nowhere, a withered hand leapt out from the shadowed alley and caught the blow at Ukon's shin.

Ukon's eyes went wide. Startled, his gaze snapped to the gray-haired stranger that was now before him, a middle-aged gentleman in blue robes. Part of Ukon was wondering who in the village was skilled enough to get the drop on them—trained shinobi—and the other part trying to shake his leg out of the man's formidable grip.

"Leave him. The boy has had enough," the man said in a hard, stony voice. Lifting Ukon's leg up, the man pushed it back and Ukon stumbled away off his feet. His features softening, the man turned his attention to Sozin, kneeling down to check on him. "You all right, son?"

_Son?_

_He just called me son._

Sozin almost couldn't believe what he had just heard. It'd been so long since that word was directed at him that it was enough to make him happy. He was weak to his bones but put on the best and most reassuring smile he could. He was also about to answer the man's question when Hakoda came running up from the rear, stepping downwards into a vicious punch. Sozin's untrained eyes could barely percieve the attack, but the man intercepted it as though it had been moving in slow motion and threw Hakoda onto his back using the momentum.

Hakoda landed with a thud, getting the air knocked right out of him. For a second, Hakoda was confused, and it took him a moment to realize what had happened, but when he did, he growled and flipped onto his feet with practiced flourish.

Sozin couldn't help but feel a pang of delight at seeing his older brother get a taste of his own medicine.

The stranger stood up, eyeing the two brothers as the air came to a standstill. He crossed his wrists—one palm facing Hakoda, and the other, Ukon—ready to take them both on. Realizing what was about to occur, Sozin rolled off to the side, forcing himself to crunch his ribs against the stone so he wouldn't get caught in the carnage. He could already tell that the man possessed skills, but he still wasn't sure about how things were going to play out. It was two versus one after all.

The brothers glared at the man, sizing him up.

Curling his lip, Hakoda flashed Ukon a nod, and they advanced on him from both ends of the alley, arms raised.

Ukon was the first to attack. With the speed of pouncing animal, he dashed forward and unleashed a flurry of punches. Sozin could hardly keep track, but the stranger effortlessly stopped each and every punch as it came. While the man was busy blocking, Hakoda went in from behind for a high, sweeping kick—fast enough to leave a trail of whitened wind in its wake—but the man, keeping his wits about him, swiftly ducked and pulled Ukon into the kick, sending him careening into the alley wall. Dazed, Ukon bounced off the wall and fell to his knees.

The man spun around, now focusing on Hakoda as Ukon recovered. Undeterred, Hakoda crouched into another blinding kick, this one low and wide like a blade determined to cut the man's legs out from underneath him. The man's sharp eyes followed Hakoda's kick, anticipating its movements. With crushing strength, he stomped down onto Hakoda's ankle, hearing a decisive crackle as he pinned the offending leg to the floor. Hakoda howled in pain, but he had little time to process it as the stranger followed up with a brutal kick to the chest. Hakoda was sent skidding back right next to Sozin.

Sozin went agape.

Ukon was on his feet now, and the stranger wasn't facing him. Seeing an chance to strike, he quickly jabbed with his elbow, expecting the blow to land, but the man craned his neck, blocked it, and used the opportunity to grip his arm. Latching onto him, the man hurled Ukon across the alley towards Hakoda, driving his heel into the small of Ukon's back after he let go. Ukon yelped, reaching for the spot with his hand as he staggered to a halt right next to his brother who was now struggling to stand on his broken ankle.

The two brothers exchanged a mutual glance. Neither of them wanted to fight anymore.

"This joker knows what he's doing. C'mon, let's get out of here..." Ukon murmured, helping Hakoda up. He shot Sozin and the stranger a dark, parting glare.

Sozin shivered in his skin. They both ran out of the alley, Hakoda limping behind Ukon.


	4. Ikijo

So much pain in every part of his body.

Aches and tremors of agony. Sozin didn't know anything could ever hurt so much. The pain bled into the deepest parts of his mind like some sort of sickness. It was the worst beating he'd ever gotten from his brothers, but at least it was finally over.

Now he had a chance to rest, and he wanted nothing more than to just fall asleep in the very spot where he laid and forget all about the pain plaguing his every bone and muscle. Beneath drooping eyelids, he saw that the man who had saved him was already at his side again. Sozin smiled at him, but he was beginning to slip in and out of consciousness. He managed to stay awake enough to realize that the man was trying to help him. The next thing he remembered was being carried out of the alley by the stranger and moved somewhere else.

The buildings all around began to turn into trees and any remnants of light remaining in the air disappeared behind the horizon, replaced by darkness. Flickering between exhaustion and brief bouts of attentiveness, the surroundings were a blur for most of the journey as pain and fatigue wrapped around Sozin like a cold blanket and held the center of his attention.

Eventually, the man brought Sozin to a quiet corner of the forest on an old, less frequently traveled dirt road. The silvery moonlight struggled to penetrate the thick canopy here. There was a narrow, windy path that started at the edge of a dense bamboo thicket framing the side of the road—barely wider than a person and easy to miss for anyone who didn't know what they were looking for. The path led out to the other side of the thicket where there was a small pocket of cleared but sequestered forest. Multiple shanties, all connected to form one big, crudely built house, were nestled neatly inside the clearing. The forest canopy broke just above the house and allowed moonlight to bathe softly upon its overgrown walls.

To Sozin's eyes, all of it was like some kind of beautiful, dilapidated oasis. He mustered up a weak chuckle as the man carried him inside the house. "This is where you live?" he said with a tone of admiration.

"It isn't much," the man said, "But it's mine."

The door shut behind them, and the man promptly set Sozin down on a bamboo bed in what he presumed was supposed to be the living room, or, at least, a rudimentary attempt at one.

"Take your shirt off and wait here. I'm going to get something that'll help you feel better," the man said before disappearing into another room, floorboards creaking with every step. The clarity and steadiness in his voice was enough to leave a lasting impression on Sozin's ears.

Grunting, Sozin maneuevered himself into a more comfortable position on the bed, hearing the frame protest noisily under his weight. Glancing around, this particular room looked like everything in it just wanted to break away and fall apart at the slightest notice of a breeze. If it weren't for the fact that he was seeing it with his own eyes, Sozin almost wouldn't have believed that the person who had saved him actually lived here. It was a little bit unexpected—the man's clothes didn't give away any indication of him being poor.

Sozin heard something being grinded in the nearby room, and then the man returned in short order. He came back with a deep-set plate that was coated on the inside with a blue powder of some sort. The man set the plate down on a low table next to the bed. The powder shimmered softly in the darkness of the room.

"What is that? Some kind of drug?" Sozin asked.

"No," the man said, kneeling down between the table and the bed. "It's a powder made from a crystal that produces special kind of medicinal fire. It won't heal your injuries entirely, but it'll help reduce the pain and inflammation."

The man reached over the table retrieved an unlit candle from the other side. Briefly, he pinched the candle's wick between two of his fingers until a thin stream of smoke began to billow out from between them, and then he let go, leaving a flame in its wake. Setting the candle back down, the man plucked the tip of the candle's flame—a small dab of fire—and casually dropped it into the plate he'd brought like lint into a waste basket. Instantly, the inside of the plate burst into a lake of blue fire that lit up the room in an arcane glow.

"Whoa..." Sozin stared at the twisting flames in silent awe.

The man grabbed two handfuls of the blue fire. Rubbing his hands together, he then spread it smoothly over Sozin's chest, causing the boy to wince in astonishment. The flames were surprisingly cool on his skin. They quickly dissipated into the air, taking the aches and pains of his body with them. While Sozin watched, the man retrieved more of the blue fire and spread it over the rest of his battered torso until it was all gone from the plate.

"There. You should find it easier to move now," the man said in a low voice.

Sozin ran his hand down his midline. "It's painless," he said, flexing and twisting his torso.

"Moujin crystals. Easy to use for healing if you can bend fire, but unfortunately, very expensive and hard to find."

"Expensive?" Sozin said. "Oh, I didn't know... Sorry for making you waste your crystal."

"Why do you say sorry?" the man asked.

"I don't want to be a burden to you—I'm not worth it," Sozin said glumly. "If I had known, I would've told you not to bother. Doesn't seem like you can afford to be giving much charity out to others anyway."

"You shouldn't speak like that," the man said. "Don't be sorry. There's no waste nor wrong in helping others and money is of no concern to me. If you learn how to live happily on little, you can be happy anywhere."

Sozin scratched his head. "Sounds like a tough philosophy to live by."

"It is, but it's a rewarding one."

"So you live here by yourself? Are you some kind of medicine man?"

"Yes and no," the man said. "I'm a monk. My name's Ikijo."

The boy spoke from beneath his black hair. "Sozin," he replied.

"Well, Sozin, you got yourself into some serious trouble... You're lucky I came across you when I did."

"Yeah..." Sozin said. "Thanks for helping me back there. I don't know what I would've done if it weren't for you."

"Don't worry about it," Ikijo said with a glancing nod as he stood up. In the middle of the room, a kettle hung over the firewood of the an unlit hearth sunken into the floor—an irori—and the man ambled over to it, grabbing another shard of flame from the candle on the table as he passed by. "Would you like some tea while you're here?" he said warmly as he lit the wood in the hearth.

Sozin stared mindlessly at the ceiling. "Sure..."

"Those boys were really laying into you. What did they want?"

"I don't know. Revenge, I guess..." Sozin murmured, lacking any enthusiasm. "Half the time I don't know why they do what they do."

"This isn't the first time they've bothered you?"

"No..."

"Mmm," Ikijo hummed, his eyes falling. "Boys will be boys. Not much you can do about that." The man shook his head. "How are you feeling? Can you walk on your own now?"

"Yeah, I feel a lot better after you treated me with that blue fire stuff."

"Good..." Ikijo said. "You should go home after tea. Your mother is probably worried about you."

"Go home?" Sozin said like it was a bad idea. "I don't know if I can do that."

"What is it?" Ikijo ran his eyes over Sozin in an attempt to decipher the boy's expression. "Do you fear they may come after you again? I can walk you home."

"No, that's not it. It's just... Those boys... They were my brothers."

"What?" Ikijo murmured in surprise.

"The taller of the two is Hakoda—he's my oldest brother. Ukon is the other one and the second oldest," Sozin said. "Please don't make me go home, mister. They'll just beat me up again like they always do. It'd be even worse if you walked me there. I have no idea what my father would do if he found out what you did to them, and I don't want to see you get hurt."

"You shouldn't worry about me," Ikijo said, his expression softening. "But your father? He condones this behavior?"

Sozin let out a pitiful chuckle. Self-pity was something he found himself resorting to a lot these days. Whenever he laughed in situations like this, he knew it was never appropriate. Laughing was supposed to be filled with happiness and joy. He could pretend that it was making him feel better to laugh even if it was fake, although deep down, he knew that it wasn't true. No matter how much he tried to pretend that things were right, they really weren't. No amount of laughter could conceal the hollowness that came out in his voice.

"He turns a blind eye every time," Sozin said. "My mother too now. She doesn't care about what happens to me. Neither of them do."

"I see..." Ikijo muttered. "Well, if you're going to stay, then you should rest. Your body must heal."

Sozin felt a wave of relief wash over him. "Thanks, mister... I'll have to go back eventually, but I'd rather save that ordeal for tomorrow"

"Mm," the man grunted in acknowledgement.

Taking another gander around the room, Sozin's eyes fell upon a curious little something that his eyes had failed to notice until just now. Mounted upon the far wall, there was a battle-worn katana faintly illuminated by the glow of the hearth. It didn't seem to add up considering the Buddha statue that was nearby and the fact that the man had said he was a monk after all.

"Hey, you said you were a monk, right?" Sozin asked.

"Yes..." the man said.

"If you don't mind me asking, what's a monk doing with a sword? Aren't monks supposed to be martial artists only? And pacifists?"

Ikijo chuckled. "Indeed—you are correct—but I wasn't always a monk. I suppose you could say I converted... I used to be in the army, fighting and killing people... nothing at all like the man I am now... The sword is still mine in body, but in spirit, I am no longer the shinobi that it once belonged to. I left that life of death behind me a long time ago. Ever since I abandoned the Interior Ministry."

"Hold on a second, you're a shinobi?" Sozin exclaimed. "That's insane! I thought my father and my brothers were the only ones in town. That would explain why you took them down so easily," Sozin said.

"These days, I only use my skills in self-defense or to help protect others. Nothing more and nothing less..."

"Have you ever wanted a student?" Sozin asked.

"I don't teach."

"You don't?"

"No," Ikijo said. "And besides, I think you're too young to learn such things. How old are you anyway?"

"Well, I'm twelve, but my father has been training my brothers since they were little kids. He doesn't teach me though. He only sees potential in my brothers." A dejected look washed over Sozins' face.

"Is that so?" Ikijo hadn't expected to hear that and was surprised on the inside. He decided to reconsider. "Why do you wish to learn? The shinobi arts... they are not to be taught lightly."

"I guess I've always wanted to learn since I was young boy, but my reasons have kind of changed. Up until recently, it was only to make my father proud—he's a master shinobi—but now... Now, I'm just tired of getting beaten up," Sozin lamented. He couldn't hold back his sorrow any longer and its cold tendrils seeped through his voice. "I wish I could take care of my self so I wouldn't have to worry about my brothers or anyone else anymore. I don't have any friends. No one has ever really helped me, especially not my father. I don't know why I ever cared about him so much, but I figure if no one else is going to take care of me, then I should at least be able to take care of myself. I just want to be able to wake up in the morning and say that I can do something. Like my brothers can. Like everyone else can." Sozin paused as realization flickered across his face. He was suddenly aware of how much he had opened up. His eyes darted awkwardly. "Oh... I'm rambling... Sorry if this is all a lot to hear, mister. I don't mean to trouble you with my problems."

Ikijo paused to think about the boy's words, and then he smiled. "Don't worry about it," he said. "I don't get a lot of visitors these days, so the company's always nice. In fact, I could use more of it now that I think about things. If you're really serious about training, I might be able to help you, and you might be able to help me. How does that sound?"

"Really? You mean you're willing to train me?" Sozin exclaimed, brightening into happiness.

"That depends," the man said curiously. "How bad do you want to learn? I've never had a student before, so you should make it worth my while."

A visceral drive lingered in Sozin's eyes. "Bad enough to do whatever it takes."

"Very well then," Ikijo said. "I'm going to hold you to that statement. We'll start tomorrow morning. You can sleep in that bed."

Sozin smiled the widest smile he ever had. All of a sudden things were looking up for him. "I look forward to it," he declared, clenching his fist in excitement.


	5. Devotion

Six years.

For six long years the boy trained relentlessly.

The morning after that night, Ikijo took Sozin out back to assess his skills and fitness in order to find out where he would have to start his training. To neither's surprise, both elements were lacking severely, but the boy showed tenacity in doing his best. Though he was not yet ready to wield a blade, as a reward, Ikijo allowed the boy to test his own sword he had used in the army out on some targets since he had been asking so fervently for a chance. Again, the targets were tatami mats—the very same kind his father had asked him to cut only a few days earlier— so Sozin was surprised to find out that he cut through the mats like butter with his first attack, a sloppy but emotionally charged slice.

"I actually cut it," Sozin said. "It actually worked..."

"It's a sword," Ikijo said. "Not what you were expecting?"

"No..." Sozin murmured, his mind turning to his brothers. "I just thought..."

Sozin took in a long, contemplating breath. Could it be? Had they set him up to fail? Why would they set him up to fail? Thinking back on the events of that day, Sozin distinctly remembered Hakoda being able to easily cut through the target with his katana, but when he himself got his hands on it, the sword didn't even get halfway through. It took Sozin a moment, but then it him like a wall of bricks. The only thing his brothers would have to gain by sabotaging his efforts is father's scroll. Knowing father wouldn't train him if he failed, they wanted to make sure he did so they could use it as an opportunity to make a deal they wouldn't otherwise be able to. The scroll in exchange for them training Sozin behind father's back which they probably weren't even going to do anyway. Sozin clenched his fist in anger. It all made sense now. He didn't care anymore about impressing father, but the fact that his brothers had screwed him over like that for a piece of paper made his blood boil into an impending simmer. And they beat him up for not managing to get it.

Ikijo must've sensed something was wrong because his voice invaded Sozin's mind. "Is something the matter, Sozin?" the man spoke up from behind him.

"No..." Sozin said. "I just wish my technique wasn't so sloppy."

"Ah..." Ikijo remarked. "You shouldn't expect yourself to be perfect when you haven't even begun your training yet. I won't be teaching you swordsmanship for a long while so don't mull over it. You aren't even close to ready yet."

"Really?" Sozin said in confusion. "What gives? Can't we start with the basics?"

"Well, you're not exactly in the best shape of your life, are you?" Ikijo said. "You should know that even the mere basics of swordsmanship require a proper foundation in order to be taught correctly. First things first. To master the blade, you must first master the body as it is an extension of yourself. By strengthening your body and learning how to use it through martial arts, only then will you have created a strong foundation on which to mount your skills in swordsmanship."

"Is that really necessary?" Sozin asked, interested only in sword combat.

"Yes!" Ikijo reaffirmed. "It's extremely important. You want to be able to fight and move like a shinobi, don't you? Surmounting obstacles to escape enemies, backflipping, and evading attacks?"

Sozin nodded.

"Then heed my words," Ikijo continued. "Being able to move around freely and effortlessly is the most important and defining shinobi skill, meanwhile, you struggled to do even a few pull-ups, let alone single-handed ones. If you're going to learn from me, you will be taught in the way I was. As shinobi, my own master made sure to instill in me the "Four Pillars" doctrine. Each limb must be able to act with great force unaided by the rest of the body, and this principle has shaped our training. Unlike samurai, shinobi can't get away with being slow and cumbersome. We mix a lot of martial arts and acrobatics into our swordplay and need to be able to get around the environment, much of which requires significant single-limbed strength."

"Oh, I see," Sozin said, fascinated by what the man was telling him. "That makes sense. So, what's the plan then?"

"Starting now, we'll be focusing mainly on athletics with some martial arts inbetween, however, until you get stronger, you won't be able to perform the more advanced moves. For your first task, I want you to give me one-hundred pushups."

"One-hundred? Sozin exclaimed in disbelief. "I can hardly do ten!"

"You told me you wanted to train, so we are going to train," Ikijo said in a matter-of-fact tone. "And you only did five, actually. Your form was terrible at the end. Do them right this time."

"Really? Just five?" Sozin chuckled, his mouth widening into an apprehensive grin. "Great... This is really going to suck then."

Sozin lowered himself down to the earth, planting his hands in front of him, feeling the weight of his body dig them into the ground. This was the first time he had ever truly exercised. Confident, he took a deep breath and then started working on pumping out the numbers. The first few sets came fairly easy, and his muscles didn't burn too bad for a while, but Sozin was in for the long haul, and soon, the feeling of acid bleeding through his arms quickly began to set in. Ten reps became nine. Nine reps became eight. Then he was barely making any progress at all, and that goal of one-hundred seemed to grow ever farther after each set. While Sozin struggled to keep going, Ikijo stood by silently, watching the boy's reaction with studious intent. Sozin's arms began to shake and fail beneath his weight, but he still kept going. He didn't care how slow his progress was, all that mattered to him was that he was making it at all, and in the end, he did, in fact, make it.

Sozin collapsed into a heap at the end of his final set. "There you go! One-hundred" he gasped victoriously, smacking his dry lips. When the words left his parched tongue, a pair of feet he had almost forgotten about amongst his struggling appeared right in front of him.

"Well, it appears you were able to do them after all," Ikijo said. "Remember, Sozin: Those who demonstrate devotion are often rewarded for their time. You didn't think you could do it in the beginning, but look at you now..."

"Yeah, look at me now," Sozin chuckled, out of breath. "I'm a total mess."

"But a triumphant one," Ikijo added.

"Triumphant? I was barely able to do it..."

"Barely is good enough for now," Ikijo said. "You'll get stronger in due time."

Sozin would go on to know that gruesome burning feeling quite well as he did that exercise and a plethora more every single day for a whole year. There were a lot of bodyweight exercises to keep up with, the forms for which were slowly being cemented into his memory. At the time, doing those exercises felt more like torture than it did training, but Sozin held faith in Ikijo's teachings and abided by all of them. For the first few weeks, Ikijo would always stand by, watching Sozin's every move with the gaze of a seasoned hawk as he did each rep, correcting his form at the slightest sign of deviation. Eventually, Sozin learned to do them by himself, and that feeling of pain at the end of each set turned to satisfaction as he improved by the week. It became an addiction. He was seeing himself grow. His body, and not to mention his appetite, was changing in ways he didn't even know it could. It was especially rewarding to see his own progress after a long and painful year as he began to look like something bearing semblance to man, though with a still boyish face and young personality. To his pleasant surprise, he had even gotten taller.

Sozin's increasing strength opened doors to new sets of skills, both in martial arts and in parkour. The martial arts skills that they practiced daily were very basic at first, but slowly and surely, as Sozin got stronger, they soon began to delve into the more advanced material. Sozin could remember so clearly. The Mikiri Counter was his first real taste of a dangerous and little-known technique. Sozin had been anticipating this moment for a while. Until recently, his legwork hadn't been quick enough to even attempt to perform the technique.

"It is nearly impossible to perceive the speed of a thrust, but not for the sharp eyes of a shinobi. Follow the blade with your gaze but not without anticipating its movements and letting your body move accordingly," Ikijo said. "I know you are scared, but remaining composed, even when fearful of the blade's deadly edge is the key to victory. Do not hesitate, Sozin. Or you will most certainly be cut."

Ikijo shifted into an attack stance as Sozin steadied his nerves. This was a martial arts technique that worked well against unarmed and armed opponents, but in truth, Sozin was a lot more comfortable performing this technique on a sweeping leg than he was a thrusting sword. He had practiced it a thousand times before on sticks that Ikijo would swing in a low, sweeping motion or thrust in the place of a blade, but now it was time for the real thing, and the real thing could dismember him should he make the slightest mistake and step too far ahead of the sword. Fear was a factor here, and he had to overcome it.

Shinobi could calm the body and mind through measured breathing, even while killing. Sozin did just that as his master had taught him. The boy's concentration seemed to increase ten-fold as he kept his eyes perfectly focused on Ikijo's katana.

Immediately, with great swiftness and speed, Ikijo rushed forward in a flash, thrusting his sword at Sozin. Sozin's eyes followed the blade intently, predicting where it would be in the next split second. When it's cutting edge was nearly upon him, he quickly sidestepped, lifted his foot up, and slammed it down onto the blade, pinning it to the floor with an imposing thud. Before Ikijo even had time to think about pulling his sword out from under, Sozin had already put the edge of his hand against Ikijo's neck.

Sozin beamed from ear to ear.

"Well done, my boy..." Ikijo said. "This is a big milestone for you. In a real battle, your opponents are going to be using real weapons so I'm glad you were able to get past this. High-risk techniques like the Mikiri Counter require conquering your fear of weaponry, and it is the most important and final step in mastering them. You've done well in your efforts these past few weeks, Sozin. I'm proud of you."

Sozin tilted his head. "Proud?" He knew what the word meant, but it was unusual to hear it. He had never heard it before. Pressing his hands together, Sozin bowed in respect, "Thank you, master."

It was always strange to hear Ikijo talk. Sozin enjoyed speaking to the man. He spoke so differently from how Sozin's father did. The way Ikijo said "boy" and "son", the way he spoke and referred to Sozin—it was always so warm or well-meaning. Sozin couldn't help but feel a strange fuzziness in his heart whenever he thought of his mentor.

That day, Sozin returned home with the biggest smile on his face. His brothers didn't seem to like that, but he didn't care anymore. He took their beatings with pride. Though they still bothered him from time to time whenever he showed up for the night, Sozin didn't dare defend himself and reveal the fact that he had been learning martial arts from someone. Right now, his parents didn't seem to care that he was missing all the time, and maybe they were even glad that he was gone or hadn't even noticed. Sozin couldn't tell, but if his brothers found out what he was doing and told them, then he would probably be forbidden from ever seeing his master again. Instead, Sozin saw his brother's beatings in a new light, and considered them as something that would strengthen him, using each incident as an opportunity to learn how to take blows and minimize injury per Ikijo's instruction.

Sozin could feel the results of his training in his bones. As the days went by, he began to feel more confident in his own skin. Even his father noticed one night as they crossed paths in the halls of their estate.

They were just about to pass each other when Danzo thrust his arm out and stopped Sozin cold in his tracks. Sozin gasped, a shiver running down his spine. Though his father's arms weren't bulky, they were long and robust, trapping him there like the bars of a prison cell. Despite Sozin's newfound height, his father still towered over him, a mountain of a man. They didn't see each other so often anymore ever since Sozin had started his routine.

Danzo turned his head, studying Sozin's meek form with stern eyes.

"Your muscles..." Danzo spoke.

"Father?"

Danzo placed his paw-like hands on Sozin's shoulders, feeling the muscle along his arm and upper back. "Hmm. Seems you've grown, if just a little," Danzo continued in a low, grumbling voice. "What have you been doing?"

"Nothing," Sozin said. "It's just puberty, I guess."

"I suppose it's about that time, isn't it? You're a late bloomer," Danzo said. "See to it that you eat well. This may be your saving grace."

Sozin nodded. "Of course, father. I will..."

"Good..." Danzo said with a pat. "Carry on then."

Danzo retired to the bedroom for the night. When he walked in, Ursa was lying under the sheets of the futon, glasses on, reading a book. Danzo payed her no mind as he wordlessly sat down on the bed and contemplated what to do next.

"Is everything all right, my love? It looks like something is troubling you," Ursa said, looking up from her book.

Danzo took a moment to consider his position before he spoke. "I fear for our sons," he said heavily. "Despite their training, neither Hakoda nor Ukon have been able to awaken their spirit animal. I've tried everything. If they don't have it, then the other boy—Sozin—I suspect he may be the only other spiritborn in the family. Normally, that would be concerning, but he's changed, hasn't he? He's gotten bigger.

"Indeed," Ursa said. "He's finally growing up."

"So it seems, but there may be more to it than that," Danzo said. "Do you know what he's been up to? I'm doubtful that puberty alone can explain his significant changes."

"I'm not sure. He disappears for the whole day and only returns at night," Ursa said.

Danzo's brows furrowed. "Does he now?"

The next day, Danzo made sure to follow Sozin, and what he saw shocked him to the core. The boy had lied straight through his teeth—a respectable deception and not an entirely unpleasant one coming from his own son. From high atop a tree, he watched them as they sparred in hand-to-hand combat. Who this man that was training his son was, he did not know, but what he did know was that he couldn't allow it to continue. At least not indefinitely. It was heresy after all, but although the boy had broken the Shadow's Code and defied his father's will, perhaps there was something to be gained from this. They seemed to be bonding, and the boy was getting stronger. Danzo would allow the training to continue for now, but when the time came and his son was ready, he would put an end to these shenanigans and find out if anything has come of them. And there was another matter. Unlocking one's spiritborn was a difficult task even with rigorous training, but there was one surefire method that always worked no matter what, and this man was going to provide just the perfect opportunity to use it on the boy. Six years he would give him, and at the end, this would all come to a head.

Danzo would have his spiritborn prodigy, one way or another. A true weapon of his own blood to command.


	6. Legacy

Day in and day out, training was all that Sozin knew. It became his lifeblood as he lived, breathed, and slept thinking about the arts. There was so much to learn that it was almost suffocating at times, but at that rate, it took him three years to finally progress enough to start learning swordsmanship and element-bending.

By now, Sozin was also beginning to get good at parkour. Running up walls and surviving deadly heights had become second nature for Sozin, but being able to kill from those positions and do it silently with a sword was even more crucial to a shinobi's skillset. New skills had to be learned on top of the old ones, and Sozin began to see exactly how what he was learning was building over previous knowledge in many ways. Despite the upsides of that, Ikijo made sure to let him know that it was important to not just focus on learning new things, but also on strengthening the old things as well because even after he had learned how to move like a shinobi, Sozin did not yet have the speed and efficiency of one. His movements were sloppy and wasteful, making them useless if he ever had to run from other ninja or shinobi hunters, but that was a fixable problem. With a little practice, the boy would be able to hone those abilities into tools that would one day save his life if they ever had to.

It was good that Ikijo knew of a place that was perfect for just this purpose. Not far from Wakota, there was an abandoned village that had long been ransacked by bandits. Although the village's buildings were in shambles, some burnt and others overgrown with foilage that had grown thick from neglect, that was fine as the buildings themselves were still intact and area offered plenty of opportunities to learn anything a shinobi would ever need to about using the environment, both natural and man-made.

"Master, if you don't mind me asking, do you have any friends?" Sozin asked as they sat in the middle of the village, huddling around a campfire surrounded by darkness. They had just finished one of their most grueling training sessions yet, so it was nice to finally take a moment to sit back and talk.

"Friends?" Ikijo sipped his steaming tea. "Not anymore I'm afraid..."

"What happened to them?"

"They're dead... They all died doing the Ministry's dirty work."

"Oh..." Sozin said sheepishly, a little astonished by the man's bluntness. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

Ikijo sighed. "I want you to stop doing that," he said sternly. "You apologize too much. Like you said, you didn't know, so don't apologize if you've done nothing wrong."

Sozin met his master's eyes in silent acknowledgement.

"It's normal to be curious," Ikijo continued, "especially at your age and about people you know and care for. I don't mind telling you anyway—I like to think I've already put those demons to rest."

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Sozin said.

Ikijo never failed to notice boy's considerate nature. He could be presumptuous at times, but never intentionally so. He was just a curious child.

"You should know..." Ikijo nodded a few times to reassure himself before pulling his gaze up from the ground. "It's important..." he said with quiet intensity. "Years ago, when I was young and not much older than you, three of my buddies and I went into training together under the same master. We were like any other group of friends. Things were great, and they stayed great until the four of us joined up to work for the government after mastering the arts. I was the one who suggested it. It was supposed to be easy money in a time of peace, and after 25 years we could get some land and retire comfortably as men who had done right by our country, but then the Iron War happened with Tamura and ruined all of that..." Ikijo shook his head, a pensive sadness crossing his eyes.

"It seems like you regret joining the army," Sozin asked, confused. "Isn't it good thing to serve your country?"

"I thought it would be, much like you do now, but in retrospect, I was just a boy who wanted to play war..." Ikijo took a deep breath, letting out a long, remorseful exhale. "Often, I still think back to things the army had us do as the clandestine division... I really didn't know what I was getting us into at the time... There's no honor in war—no morality to speak of even amongst your own brethren once they become desperate. When Ishida began to lose the war, I slowly began to realize that. Our superiors treated us with no respect and would send us on outlandish suicide missions deep behind enemy lines without any care for our survival. Our country never did right by us even though we served with distinction. One day, I was just the only one who happened to come back..."

Concern flickered onto Sozin's face. "Does it still bother you, master?"

"Sometimes, but not as much as it used to... In that light, I suppose it would've been better if I had never met my friends at all. They might've still been here that way, rather than having had their lives wasted so carelessly." Ikijo's eyes had fallen to the ground again. He paused to consider something else, and then spoke once more, his words foreboding as he looked up at his student who had been listening with earnest attention. "I don't know what you plan on doing with the skills I've been teaching you, Sozin—you're going to be a man and that's your life and your business—but I beg you, as your master, to at least consider my words. Don't join the army. Your life is irrelevant, and you'll be nothing more than a pawn to them. We're still losing the war, and my friends died for nothing."

"I won't. I promise..." Sozin said.

"In that case, I have nothing to worry about..." Ikijo smiled. "If you ask me, you should find work as a mercenary or hired blade. In hindsight, it's what I should've done. There's more freedom that way."

"I didn't know you had been through so much..." Sozin said. "So how did you go from being a shinobi to being a monk? Seems like an impossible transition."

Ikijo let out a few hearty laughs. Grinning, he said, "It is strange, isn't it? I can hardly believe it myself sometimes." Turning more serious, he kept going with nods of agreement, saying, "Yes... After my friends died and I realized how worthless we had been to the army—to our very own country—I chose to defect. The price for defection was being hunted down as a traitor and put to death, so I didn't have many places to go in Ishida. The monks at Senpou Temple were the only ones willing to take me in and provide refuge in exchange for my repentance. By then, I had taken so many lives in my pursuits as a shinobi... I'm surprised they let me in... It felt good to go to a place of holiness for once and ease the burden of my sins..."

Sozin's brows furrowed. "Can I say something, master, though, forgive me because it might be a bit out of place?"

"Of course. You can tell me anything," Ikijo said.

"With all due respect, I think you should take the advice that you gave me. You didn't know the war would happen. You didn't do anything wrong. I don't think you should be blaming yourself for the death of your friends. It isn't good for you to feel bad about that..."

Ikijo snorted. "It would be hypocritical of me not to take my own advice, wouldn't it? Regardless, their deaths still trouble me to no end. Hopefully never, but one day you might understand... I always feel as though I could've done something about it..." Ikijo turned away for a moment, but then he looked at Sozin again. His eyes raised, lighting up as he thought of something that had piqued his interest. "Since you've asked me a few questions, may I ask you one as well?"

"Anything, master," Sozin said.

"Why did you ask me about my friends just now?"

"Oh, that... I don't know," Sozin said. "I just figured you would be lonely always living on the outskirts of Wakota by yourself. I've never seen anyone else visit you."

"That's an interesting observation..." Ikijo noted. "Are you?"

"What?"

"Lonely?"

The question took Sozin by surprise. The tables had turned and now it was his time to talk. Not sure what to say exactly, he blinked, holding back an answer as their eyes met.

"I see..." Ikijo said in understanding. "I knew there was reason. We often notice in others what we ourselves have dealt with. Starvation can take many forms, and those are the eyes of a starving wolf if I have ever seen them."

Sozin stared into the dancing flames of the fire, his eyes narrowing in resentment of the world. "I'm not surprised you noticed. I try to hide and ignore it, but it's just a part of who I am now."

"I'm worried about you, my boy. I've never given you a schedule, and yet, you come to me to train every day, from sunrise to sundown. It isn't healthy. Devotion is good, but I've never seen you show interest in anything else other than training."

"That's because I don't have anyone or anything else," Sozin murmured. His words turned dark like black ice. "What else is out there for me? My family?" he chuckled morbidly, sucking in a troubled breath through his teeth. "You'd think they would love me, that they'd be the first people to, and yet they don't... My own father never even gave me the time of day, but you, a goddamn stranger, did. Isn't that crazy?" Sozin touched the corners of his eyes with the pad of his finger in attempt to block the water that was starting to well up. His face contorted like he couldn't fathom what he was actually saying. "Even my brothers too—I used to think that they loved me, even as they beat me up because I wanted to believe so bad..." he croaked tremulously. "It took me longer than it should've to realize that they never did."

Ikijo seemed to be at a loss for words. After a heavy moment of meeting Sozin's desolate gaze, he wrapped a fatherly arm over the boy's shoulder and pulled him closer. "Your life has not been easy. You struggle, and yet, you are still here... That shows you are stronger than most."

"I don't want to be strong as much as I just want to be happy," Sozin said dejectedly.

"And you will be both," Ikijo said, hoping to cheer the boy up. "Tell me, have you ever wanted to double jump before?"

"Double jump?" Sozin wasn't sure what his master was talking about.

"You've been learning airbending from me, haven't you? I've studied the elements all my life, Sozin, and if I have learned anything from them, it's that they are the key to certain abilities that shinobi can use to do many things, even the impossible..." he intoned. "You should get some sleep and replenish your energy because tomorrow morning I'm going to teach you your first forbidden technique."

"What? Are you serious?" Sozin said in excitement.

"Yes," Ikijo grinned, rubbing the boy's shoulder. He pointed at himself with his thumb. "Tomorrow, you will learn how to jump on air itself. And this is a technique that not even the greatest shinobi could possibly know because I made it up myself!"

"No way! Did you make a scroll?" Sozin clenched both of his fists. He started running his mouth at light speed. "Where's the scroll so I can see what we're going to be doing?"

"There is no scroll, and I don't want there to be one," Ikijo said. "I'm going to pass this technique down to you through training and word of mouth only. Since I am entrusting you with this knowledge, should you happen to become a teacher yourself one day after I show it to you, you must promise to pass it down only to those worthy and in the same way I did."

Sozin never promised to do anything faster in his life. He almost didn't fall asleep in anticipation of the next day.

Learning the elements was one of Sozin's favorite parts of training. With element-bending came the opportunity for Ikijo to incorporate all manner of new skills into Sozin's arsenal and a history lesson sprinkled in here or there. In the beginning of warfare, the very first shinobi quickly realized that, unlike samurai, the covert nature of their tasks often required them fight while outnumbered or at a significant disadvantage, so this conundrum resulted in the pioneering of a completely new discipline that came to be known as ninjutsu. There were many ninjutsu techniques designed to exploit any gained advantage into an even bigger one to help tip the scales in a shinobi's favor such as wreathing one's blade in an opponent's blood to extend its reach or even creating a cloud of smoke from the spraying blood of your victim so you can disengage. All of these techniques required a refined understanding of the individual elements and sometimes a combination of them—water for blood and air for smoke. Unfortunately for samurai, the shame associated with such underhanded tricks meant that they were officially forbidden from studying the discipline, but in the pursuit of victory, shinobi were not bound by any abstract notions of honor and code. Still, at times, even samurai could resort to the dark arts out of desperation or indifference.

Although one's skill in combat and in bending was essential for making a complete person, it was not the only thing that mattered to a warrior of the shadows. Stealth was also of great importance and always preferred to any direct confrontation. In fact, removing one's presence was part of what defined a shinobi. Ikijo made sure to instill this way of thinking into Sozin as shinobi should know better than any other warrior that honor was worthless to a dead man. So it was then that they came know the taste of venison on their tongue quite well. In addition to being able to practice ninjutsu techniques, some of which required live targets, deer were also great for training the boy's stealth at the same time. They were vigilant animals, more alert and with greater senses than humans as they lived constantly in the dangers of the wild, so if you could master sneaking up on a deer, you could sneak up on anyone you wanted to. At the most fundamental level, hunting an animal was no different than hunting a human, although the latter might prove to be a more intelligent and dangerous kind of prey every now and then.

Somewhere down the line, it seemed only right that Ikijo taught the boy how to kill silently to go hand in hand with what he was practicing.

"In stealth or in the heat of battle, a deathblow provides a shinobi with the chance to catch his breath and recover," Ikijo said. "After killing an enemy, one must exhale, expelling both regret and reaffirming one's core. Doing so ensures that no energy is wasted, and you can continue killing unabated should you be surrounded by more enemies," Ikijo demonstrated what he was talking about on a scarecrow. "Going through the vocal cords in the neck is always a silent kill and an instant one if you go through the spine as well, but you can aim for other areas at the risk of the target giving away your position."

There was always an element of luck associated with stealth, so getting caught or not being able to use stealth at all could be inevitable for even the best of shinobi. Knowing how fight a target head-on was always a last resort, but one that shinobi trained to ensure would not fail them. Sozin found this to be the hardest part of his training. On some days, him and his master would spar only with swords, and no shinobi tools nor ninjutsu was allowed.

In the clearing behind Ikijo's home, Sozin blocked a punishing slice that sent him skidding back. Nearly losing grip of his katana, he planted it into the dirt, slowing himself down to a quick stop as Ikijo bolted at full speed in an attempt to keep him from recovering. Struggling to keep up with Ikijo, Sozin had barely been managing any offense of his own as he was being kept on the defensive by a flurry of attacks. By the time his sword was out of the ground, Ikijo's was an inch away from grazing his neck.

"Damn..." Sozin said, nearly out of breath. He planted his hands on his knees, glancing up at his master. "How did I lose again? We've been at this for a while. You could at least let me win for once."

Ikijo's brows furrowed at such an unbelievable request. "Don't be foolish," he warned. "Your enemies won't show you any such leniency, so neither will I."

"I suppose that's true, but we're just training. Can we go back to martial arts now? I'm actually good at that, and I'm tired of swordsmanship."

"No," Ikijo cut in. "It is clear to me that you're lacking in this area. We need to work on your weaknesses."

"I get that, but we've been at it for hours, and you haven't even told me what I'm doing wrong," Sozin said.

Ikijo pinched the bridge of his nose. "That's because I was hoping I wouldn't have to!" he said scathingly. "You're missing the point of this exercise, Sozin. It isn't just to hone your swordsmanship but also to develop your battle sense. You need to develop a sense of battle so you can figure out what you're doing wrong on your own. And the other side of that is knowing what you're opponent is doing wrong as well. If you're losing a battle, who is going to point out those things? Certainly not your enemy! Certainly not me because I won't always be there! Do you understand what I am saying?"

"Yes, master," Sozin nodded meekly.

"Then tell me what you think you were doing wrong," Ikijo said.

"Well, that entire battle I barely got to attack you at all. It was just you attacking me," Sozin said.

"Exactly!" Ikijo blurted out. "So you do have some sense in you! If you knew that this whole time, then why didn't you do anything about it?"

"I didn't think I could. I barely had time to throw out an attack of my own," Sozin said.

"Nonsense!" Ikijo shot back. Sheathing his sword, he clasped his hands behind his robes and began to strut around in a lecturing manner. "What you need to do is look for openings, and shut down my momentum by forcing me to defend against attacks of your own. I was giving you plenty of opportunities to do so, but you took hardly any at all! I hope you are listening closely, Sozin, as it is of the utmost importance that you become more aggressive in your swordplay. A strong defense is important for any warrior, but the biggest mistake you can make in any battle is by playing not to lose. You need to play to win, and that means balancing risk and knowing which are the right ones to take and when to take them. Without taking risks, you will have no offense to speak of as you did just now. If it helps you to be more aggressive, think of your offense as simply a proactive defense."

"Okay... Are we going to duel again?"

"Yes," Ikijo said. "We're going to keep at it until you get it right. I don't care how long it takes or how tired you are."

Sozin groaned, but he did not falter. Despite his frustration, he had known all along that his master was right. He knew Ikijo could be strict and unceremonious at times, but the man had his best interests at heart, something that could not be said for anyone else in his life. He would follow him to the ends of the earth no matter what the man said or demanded he do, and this was no exception.

Sozin continued to fight, but he was so exhausted from defending himself that he could hardly do a thing against his master. Eventually, Ikijo landed another hefty blow onto Sozin's blocking sword, but this time, his grip wasn't enough to hold onto it and the blade went flying straight out of his hands and into the grass. Again, the boy found himself being scolded.

"Stop blocking my attacks!" Ikijo shouted as Sozin glanced over at his fallen weapon.

Sozin was more confused and surprised that his master was mad at him again than anything. "Stop blocking?" he said as he went to go pick up the sword. "What do you mean? How am I supposed to defend myself?"

"You know I am stronger than you and yet you continue to block even as your sword shakes in your hands and your arms begin to tire!" Ikijo yelled. "Against stronger opponents, strength should not be met with more strength but instead redirected like the flowing of water. You need to deflect, boy, so deflect! Force your opponent to expend the full energy of their attack into the air by deflecting it instead of stopping the attack short with a block and tiring yourself out rather than them."

"How do I do that?" Sozin asked, puzzled beyond belief. "You keep telling me to deflect, but I don't know how to, master!"

"This is something that you will have to get a hang of on your own. Listen, boy! Raise your sword and block my attack!"

Sozin did as his master asked of him and blocked an overhead. The block produced a flat, dull clang that was unpleasant to the ear.

"Now attack me and listen again!" Ikijo said.

Again, Sozin did what his master asked of him and attacked Ikijo with an overhead of his own. This time, the attack produced an almost euphoric, high-pitched ding.

"Wow! That sounds way better," Sozin said.

"You can hear the difference, can't you? Memorize it," Ikijo said. "A block produces a dull clang while the sound of a good deflect rings clear and true. If you deflect correctly, you can always win a battle in the long game by dragging out your opponent. Your enemies form and posture will begin to suffer while yours won't assuming they can't deflect your attacks as well, opening up the opportunity for a deathblow at some point. If two warriors can't get the better of each other, the fight will always come down to who has the better stamina."

The sound of deflection was slowly burned into Sozin's memory. Learning how to deflect took him a while since his swordsmanship was terrible, but time and time again, he began to hear that sound more and more during their sparring as he got a hang of how to do it. Since his master couldn't teach him directly, Sozin had to feel things out for himself. He liked the responsiveness of learning how to deflect as that distinctive sound played every time he got it right. The high-pitched shatter of metal. Perfection to the ear. It was a sign he was growing that made his neck tingle and blood rush with the high of battle after every resounding ding. Sozin's spars with his master were turning into a symphony of deathly music and their swords were the instruments of their orchestra.

With the rate at which he was progressing in most of his disciplines, Sozin's novicehood couldn't last forever. Ikijo witnessed before his very own eyes as Sozin continued to grow, not just as a warrior, but also as a person, physically and mentally. It wasn't long before six years had finally passed, and he reached the size of his master. At eighteen years old, both of them now spoke eye-to-eye.

"Sozin!" Ikijo called out.

Sozin glanced over his shoulder as he single-handedly pulled himself up onto a branch. He was in the middle of finishing his daily exercises when he saw Ikijo in the distance standing in the back doorway to his home. "Yes, master?" Sozin shouted back from the treeline.

"When you're done, come inside! I have something important to show you!" Ikijo said.

Near the end of the routine, Sozin quickly finished up his last exercise. As he walked back to the house, he had to admit that it put a smile on his face to see how much it had changed over the years. In exchange for his teachings, Sozin had helped to renovate Ikijo's home. Though it wasn't any mansion, it was bit more homely than before and no longer on the brink of dilapidation.

When he got inside, Sozin found Ikijo in his bedroom, digging through things to get something out of the closet.

"What are you looking for, master?" Sozin asked.

"Something I no longer need and think you're going to like," Ikijo said.

After a brief moment of rummaging, the old man began pulling out several pieces of clothing, building up an outfit on the futon. The first piece of the puzzle was a pair of waraji sandals and dark tabi socks—common for shinobi to wear as they were lightweight and fairly silent. The second piece to the outfit was a dark purple hakama, baggy and with black leg wraps to protect the shin and mount a trio of kunai on the outside. They were accompanied by a sash that went around the waist for holding various items and trinkets.

Recognizing the distinctive colors—purples, blacks, dark browns, and greys—Sozin began to suspect what it was that Ikijo was putting on display for him, but the next few pieces are what confirmed it. He watched eagerly with livened eyes as the outfit began to truly unfold. The third piece for the torso is what stood out the most. It came with black forearm wraps and was made up of a thin layer of sleeved mesh armor worn underneath a leather cuirass with mounting points for various accessories, and on top of that, a black and purple striped cape to hide any tools or projectiles that a shinobi would prefer to conceal from their enemy. The cape was worn down just like the rest of the garments, but it seemed to be the worst offender. Tattered all over and charred from fire at the bottom edges, it completed the look of a warrior who had gone through hell and back.

The cherry on the top for the whole outfit was the final piece—the headgear. It consisted of a hood with a metal forehead protector and cloth to cover the lower face, concealing the wearer's identity should they desire that.

"Wow..." was all Sozin could get out. He gingerly picked up a sleeve, fumbling with the fabric in his hands, feeling its scars—the memories of warfare. He was sure that there were many a story behind each scrape, cut, and mark on the outfit.

Ikijo chuckled, taking in the boy's expression with a fuzzy feeling in his heart. "This is what I wore when I was in the army," he said noddingly.

"It looks amazing..." Sozin murmured in awe. Not sure if it was appropriate to ask, his voice turned sheepish. "Can I try it on?" he asked, compelled by his desire.

"Of course! That's why I brought you here. You've earned it, and you're finally big enough for it to fit you now. I figured I'd surprise you when you were ready." Smiling, Ikijo spread his arms out wide.

"A surprise is an understatement..."

Sozin smiled, his face twisting through pain, happiness, and confusion as they embraced each other. He hugged Ikijo tightly. It was a deep hug carrying an touch of joy that reminded him of the holidays. Ikijo was only one person, but this is what it must feel like to have a family. Sozin had never felt like this before and didn't know he'd so badly needed to until now. Deep down, he felt like he was about to cry. His father had never hugged him in his life nor had anyone ever actually gotten him a gift. He closed his eyes in an attempt to appreciate the moment, trying to savor every single feeling that was raising his blood into a warmness that he wanted to just sit back and cherish forever.

"Master, I would be honored if you helped me to put it on," Sozin said, pulling away.

Ikijo patted him warmly on the shoulder with a proud grin. "The honor is all mine. You are my student after all. My one and only..."

To Sozin's surprise, when he put the gear on and especially the cape, all of it was surprisingly heavier than it looked, feeling as though it had been lined entirely with lead. Weighted upon his shoulders, the cape pressed down on Sozin in a snug, comforting way as though it was shielding him from any danger. Though heavier than he'd expected, it was certainly lighter than samurai armor, allowing for greater movement, but not so light as to offer no protection from the elements or from the heat of battle. It was quality gear, and Sozin could tell by the damage it had endured that it had served his master well.

"This is incredible..." Sozin said, getting a feel for how it felt to move his limbs around. "You must've went through so many battles with this gear."

"Indeed," Ikijo said. "And now, should you desire it, it will be yours to carry on my legacy. My bloodline may be dead, but you are the son I've always wished I had, Sozin. If you are willing, this duty shall fall upon your shoulders."

"What? You mean you're actually giving it to me?"

"I am..."

"I don't know. Is it right for me to keep this? This is your clothing after all. Your history... It's a part of who you are as a shinobi. Don't you want it for... sentimental reasons?"

Ikijo waved his hand in dismissal. "Think nothing of it," he assured. "As I've told you before, I left the life of a shinobi behind me a long time ago. This gear can no longer serve me like it once did, and it won't ever again. I see it fitting, however, that it be given to you so that it doesn't go to waste. Consider it my gift to you for all your hard work."

"Wow... Okay..." Sozin murmured, astonishment crossing his face. He wasn't quite sure how to process all this. "Thank you, master. You have no idea how much this means to me." Sozin said happily. For a moment, the delight on the boy's face remained, but then it dissipated into a pang of disappointment. This wasn't the end, was it? "So... What happens now?"

"Now..." Ikijo chuckled. He slapped the boy on the back. "Now, you can go off on your own and live your own life as I did when my master finished training me. That... or you could stay here and continue to hone your skills," he said enticingly.

"I think I'd rather stay with you," Sozin admitted. "I still have much to learn and work on."

"Those are wise words, Sozin, wise words indeed. You will go far with that attitude. Come then..." Ikijo said, moving towards the doorway. "This gear is designed to carry various weapons and accessories like the shuriken and smoke bombs we've practiced with. They're very convenient to access if you look at the spots underneath the cape. Let us spar so you can get a feel for what it's like to fight with all of that on your person."

Sozin grinned. "All right! Let's do it!"


	7. Rebirth

It was late in the evening and the sun was on the verge of setting as Sozin walked along the dirt road that led back to the Daihachi estate. Delighted by the day's events, he stared with a twinkle in his eye at a picture of him and Ikijo, one that they had posed for that same day only a few hours earlier in an artist's shop. The picture came in the form of a miniature scroll that could be rolled up for ease of carrying. Ikijo had his arm over Sozin's shoulder and they were both grinning in the drawing. Drawing with both hands, the artist had done it so fast, that it'd almost looked like he was scribbling. Despite the artist's speed, everything from Ikijo's grizzled beard to his receding hairline, which the man hated but Sozin thought only made him look even wiser, all of it had been captured perfectly in one incredibly realistic picture and done so in a matter of mere minutes.

Even though the picture didn't look like much to anyone else, to Sozin, he couldn't be more thankful as he now had a small token, a tangible snapshot of time, to keep for his memories and look back on for as long as he wished. Sozin rolled the picture up and held it close to his heart, treasuring what it represented. Not wanting to risk losing the picture, he decided to stash it away after he had his fill. Traditional robes didn't come with many pockets, if any at all, so slung across Sozin's torso and over his shoulder like a bandolier, there was a woven fiber thread that had a few cases and small purses affixed to it. Sozin stashed the picture carefully into one of them for safekeeping.

Without his master, Sozin didn't know where he would be now at this point in his life. Lost? Alone? Confused? There were a lot of terrible possibilites that he could've been forced to endure, too many for a boy like him to be comfortable with, but now there was a chance that he might actually be somebody. He had so much to be grateful to Ikijo for. Even if the rest of the world couldn't stand him, Sozin was glad to have at least one person on his side fighting for his cause when no one else would. For that, the man had earned his undying loyalty.

Sozin headed home, buzzing with all the good emotions he had only dreamed about just six years earlier. He went to bed early that evening, the case holding the picture held snugly against his chest.

He slept soundly until the distant voice of someone he'd forgotten about invaded his dreams and tried to stir him awake. Then a hand gripped his shoulder and shook with urgency.

"Sozin! Sozin wake up!" the voice implored.

Sozin cracked open his dreary eyes. He recognized the voice as none other than Ukon's but was a little surprised to find himself being disturbed at this hour. He turned his head to look behind him as he had slept on his side with his back to the door.

Sozin's gaze fell upon his older brother. "What?" he exasperated. "Why are you in my room?"

Ukon smiled innocently. "Father wants to see you. He's waiting for you in the tower lookout and wants to talk."

Sozin's brows creased. He didn't like the sound of that. It was pretty late for anything to be going on right now, so he wasn't sure why his father even wanted to see him, but whatever the reason was, his instincts were telling him that it probably wasn't good.

"I don't want to go," Sozin groaned.

"You have to go," Ukon said. "Father says it's real important."

"What does he want?"

"I don't know. Go up there and find out. Unless you want to stay down here and have him come get you."

Sozin huffed out of indignation. "Fine. Tell him I'll be there in a minute. Can you leave me alone now?" he said, pulling the bedsheets over him even more than they already were. He wanted to just hide under there, not have to see his brother's face, and be left to his own devices until morning came.

Ukon wordlessly left Sozin's room after that. A couple of struggling moments later, Sozin managed to overpower his langour by some strange means and clambered out of bed as though he was a zombie. He was sleepy but still took a moment to put on a fresh change of robes before deciding to leave.

Rubbing his eyes, Sozin made his way up the living quarters—several stories of room after room—until he had reached the double doors at the top. He slid them open and found both of his brothers standing silently on either side of the entrance. Danzo stood as well on the far end of the platform, taking in the view of the surrounding land and of Wakota.

Sozin glanced warily at both his brothers as he passed them and approached his father. The air being exuded sent red flags shooting through his mind.

"Father," Sozin said. "You summoned me?"

Danzo narrowed his eyes. "Indeed, I have..." He turned around to face Sozin with his arms crossed in scrutiny. "And do you know why, boy?"

Sozin picked his head up and met the man's harsh gaze. It was difficult to look him in the eyes. "No, father..."

"Oh?" he scowled. "You've been sneaking out every day—for several years, in fact—and you thought I wouldn't notice? You thought you could make a fool of me?"

Sozin's eyes widened.

"Yes..." Danzo continued, his face descending into a malign smirk as he saw what was happening to Sozin. "I've made sure to let your master know exactly what I thought of that."

The boy's face dropped. Shocked, he uttered in worry, "You know about him?"

"I've known for a while..." Danzo's smirk widened into an alarming grin. "I payed him a visit tonight. We didn't talk... but I don't think he would've taken too kindly to my sentiments..."

Sozin backed away from Danzo. His heart skipped a beat. He didn't want to believe it, but his father had no reason to lie about this.

"What did you do?" Sozin quavered.

"What any good father would've done to a man leading his own son astray," Danzo said.

Sozin's breath tremored. He glanced towards his brothers and their expression seemed to confirm the worst of fears. It was then that he truly realized the gravity of the situation.

There was no point in hiding his skills anymore. He needed to know the meaning of this and he needed to know now. Sozin immediately blew past Danzo, running off the building and onto the curvature of the roof beneath the edge of the lookout. With practiced skill, he jumped down several ledges of the pagoda until he was at the ground again, rolling to disperse the energy. He took off in a sprint towards Ikijo's home. Danzo watched from atop the tower lookout as his son bolted away.

"Shall we go after him, father?" Hakoda said, walking up from behind.

"No..." Danzo said, raising his hand. "He'll be back. Just wait... If he has my blood, I know he will..."

Danzo shut his eyes and returned to the spirit realm for the time being. His spirit animal, the raven, was one of the most observant animals in the animal kingdom, rivaled only by the likes of the wolf, the fox, and the owl. Like all those other spirits, the raven knew that it was a gift to understand others, although to know oneself, to truly know who you are in the most unadulterated light, was something else entirely. It was more than a gift, it was power of the rarest degree, and Danzo understood this. He was an a vile, selfish, and unforgiving man, but he made no mistake as he knew that better than anyone. He did not forgive and he did not forget. This philosophy, born partly out of his own nature and carved out over his entire lifetime of experience, had gotten him far as the world did not reward good behavior as much as it did bad. He also knew that three of his sons were the same way, even Sozin. Danzo could see it in him as well, that same hatred and vitriol, even if it didn't seem like it and even if the boy didn't realize it. The hatred he harbored had all been hidden behind a layer of softness, but it was still there deep within, pent up from years of maltreatment and just waiting to be released. Once those emotions were brought to the surface, the truest reflections of one's soul, so too shall his spirit animal. Pain and suffering was the quickest way to any meaningful growth, that much he knew.

Somewhere in the darkness of the night, the forest leaves crunched and the trees were a blur. Ikijo's home was only on the outskirts, but Sozin ran for what seemed like leagues upon leagues of distance as a storm of thoughts wreaked havoc upon his psyche. He didn't know what to think or feel and his legs moved on their own, catapulting him at blistering speed across the forest ground. Eventually, by some miracle of divine intervention, he reached the corner of the forest that he had come to recognize so much. He went just off the beaten path and through the bamboo passageway, running into the house.

"Master?" Sozin shouted as he threw the front door open.

There was no response.

"Master!" Sozin desperately shouted again.

Sozin fingers curled. He still didn't hear anything. Without thinking, he found himself bursting into the bedroom.

"Oh my god..." he croaked.

He could see it from the doorway. Ikijo laid there on the bloodied sheets, an enormous slit going through the middle of his windpipe—the mark of a blade that had been used without remorse. Sozin recognized it as a wound from his father's odachi. Ikijo's eyes were still slightly open, lifeless and staring straight ahead at the ceiling. Sozin grimaced, wanting to turn away as his insides shriveled up, but for the sake of his master, he remained strong. Drifting over to the bedside, Sozin kneeled down and gently shut both of Ikijo's eyes with his fingers. The man deserved at least that much of a courtesy.

"Forgive me, master," Sozin whispered as the tears welled up. "I couldn't be there for you like you were for me. You weren't my father... but you were my real dad..."

It looked like Ikijo hadn't even been given a chance to fight for his own life. There was no sign of a struggle— he had been stabbed in his sleep and was dead before he probably even knew what was happening. Sozin wasn't sure whether to consider that merciful or not, but his teeth grinded against each other all the same. He clenched his fist, the nails digging into his palm as his head drooped down in darkening anger. Unbeknownst to him, the sclera of his own watery eyes had begun to fill up as though a crimson red wine was being poured into them—red like blood, and rage, and hatred, and all the things that were coursing through his veins right now. He couldn't stand for this.

He wouldn't...

Eventually, nothing but the black, bottomless pits of his irises remained, and then Sozin rose to his feet. From beneath wicked brows, he leered silently at the wall as if there was something there. The turmoil building inside him knew nothing of limits or morals. All it knew was that he was tired of losing, and now, he was going to spend every ounce of his quaking energy making sure he gave back the proper answer. The only answer. In this rotten world, he had learned to accept many things, but this he would not.

Sozin's gaze fell upon Ikijo's motionless form. For the first time in his life, it didn't seem so scary to die anymore. Death was a distant thing, but pain was not. Thousands of atrocities go unpunished every day in the blink of an eye. It seemed scary to let yet another one of the few and precious things that existed in this world go to waste so callously. That was the real tragedy.

That...

Was unacceptable.

At once, the shadow of a boy stood upon his own two feet and headed over to the closet where he found his master's old Ministry gear. His hands worked with unsettling purpose. Once he finished putting it on, he retrieved his master's sword from the main room where it hung on the mantle. Holding it gingerly in his hands, Sozin examined the workmanship, feeling the silk wrappings that were bound in a crisscross pattern around the handle. The aged steel hadn't lost its silvery luster. It'd been impeccably maintained throughout the years, and Sozin considered it fitting that he took this weapon for what he was about to do. He enclosed the sword into the sheath on his back.

Ikijo had trained Sozin in the use of many shinobi tools to go along with his outfit: firecrackers, kunai, shuriken, grappling hooks, and many more things that the clothing had been designed for. He had the repertoire of a walking arsenal, but unfortunately, all that was in the house were those four things, so he didn't have much of a choice about what he was going to be taking with him. He would have to manage with what he had.

Since he was right-handed, the grappling hook attached to the outside of his left forearm and allowed for independent use of one's blade. It was stained with oil, but that ensured that it would work properly. Although he was right-handed as a swordsman, Sozin had been intentionally trained to be left-handed thrower. Loaded into a palm-sized projectile wheel expertly designed for stacking, the shuriken were mounted on top of his right wrist like a watch so that the left hand could grab as many as it needed without compromising self-defense. As if that wasn't enough, a belt of small, tubular firecrackers ran down along the length of Sozin's left arm, splaying off to the side at the wrist so that it was in reach of his left hand if he twisted it back enough. The firecrackers were lined up along a thread in opposing pairs. They were designed to be torn off—igniting their delayed but short fuse—and then thrown upon which they detonated and dispersed gunpowder and smaller pea-sized explosives that disoriented the enemy with flashes and bangs. When the firecrackers were in place, Sozin also made sure to mount two trios of kunai on the outside of his lower legs, just above the ankles. It was a spot easy to forget about, and he didn't think he would need them considering everything else, but he was going to take advantage of everything he possibly could to win.

Sozin pulled out the picture of him and Ikijo and took one last heartbroken look at it before deciding it was time to leave. He headed back to the Daihachi estate, his emotions boiling through heavy and unconcealed steps. He made no effort to hide his presence even as he walked up the stairs to the lookout where his father and his brothers awaited. His brothers gave him a nasty look upon his arrival as he walked through the double doors again.

"That was quick. You run pretty fast for a coward," Ukon sneered as Sozin walked past them.

Sozin didn't say anything in response. He remained silent, seething on the inside with blistering anger that had already marinated a thousand times over during his journey here. He wanted to lash out but at the same time the presence of two trained shinobi and one grandmaster made him wary of the consequences. Sozin forgot about those feelings, only focusing on the ones that mattered. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't have tried to confront his father, but his hatred had hardened his resolve and drowned out most hints of fear. Still, behind that stoic mask of confidence, he was struggling to muster the strength to speak out. Somehow, it came to him from some hidden crevice inside his soul, ready to be unleashed and urged on by the very darkness that was spreading its roots there.

"This is Ministry gear from early in the war," Danzo remarked, recognizing Sozin's outfit. "Your master was an Ishidan shinobi. How... interesting..." he noted, wondering if the man had served under his command. "So, you've returned... But for what reason, exactly?"

With courage he had never possessed ever before, Sozin looked his father in the eye and stayed there. "For you..." he murmured, voice rising into a growl, "You murdered him in cold blood! You killed him!"

Danzo gazed down at Sozin. "I did..." he said shamelessly. "And it felt good... It sounds like you needed him."

"But do I need you?" Sozin breathed.

Sozin pulled out his master's katana from behind his back. Immediately, Hakoda and Ukon both reached for their weapon.

Danzo chuckled, grinning in amusement. "If it's a fight you want, then your brothers are more than happy to entertain you. They've been learning as well." Danzo looked past Sozin. "Hakoda! Ukon! Show your younger brother what you've learned!" Danzo gestured behind Sozin with his head. "Go on. Get your anger out..." he added in a low, dark voice.

Danzo backed off, retreating to the edge of the arena to watch the carnage as it developed. He crossed his arms, a stony, judging look on his face.

Turning around, Sozin's eyes darted between both of his brothers. They were already closing in on him, stalking down the platform like a pair of predators. Sozin remembered what his master had taught him. Whenever facing more than one opponent, it was of the utmost importance to keep all of them within your vision. Should one of them get behind you, death was most likely certain for all but the most intuitive of warriors, as at that point, warding off attacks became a matter of sheer prediction. Sozin knew that they were going to try and exploit that fact. As Hakoda approached, Ukon began to flank, slinking along, trying to come in and around from the side to force Sozin to divide his attention, but he watched his positioning carefully and nullifed the flanking with movements of his own.

Out of nowhere, it began, and Hakoda made a beeline for Sozin.

With two quick slices, Hakoda bore down upon Sozin who blocked the attacks, but then he followed up with a third horizontal strike. Sozin leaned back, ducking with skillful grace underneath Hakoda's blade. It cut across his vision, determined to sever him in half. From the side, Ukon came rushing in at the first opportunity, sliding and sweeping the ground with his katana to cut Sozin's legs out from under him as he evaded the other sword. If he blocked from this precarious position, Sozin knew he would get knocked off balance. He exploded into a backflip, pulling away from both of them as he tossed several shuriken in an arc at once.

Ukon and Hakoda bolted through the shuriken, deflecting them away as they advanced. It was two against one and obvious that they were both coordinating their movements well. There was no room for offense. Any offense would have to come from counterattacks for the most part. There were two of them, but that didn't mean Sozin couldn't win. He just had to play perfectly as no mistakes could be made fighting against one of them without being punished by the other. That was a tall order, but Sozin didn't care. Their battle was long overdue. It was time for his brothers to suffer at his hands for all that they've done to him.

Furious, Sozin slid into his combat stance when he hit the ground. His brothers reached him nearly as soon as he had landed, not giving him any time to breathe. Ukon started to flank again while Hakoda lunged forward, initating a combo of seven deadly hits that left a streaks of air in their wake. Sozin blocked the first one, easily getting into the groove and deflecting the next five that came in quick succession. Blistering orange sparks and resounding pings of metal shattered the air. Hakoda reared his weapon overhead for the final, finishing hit to end the combo. Sozin saw it coming, anticipating the attack within a split second. In the next, he had repelled the strike and reared back his sword for a deathblow on his stunned brother. By now, Ukon was on top of Sozin again, preventing a punish by forcing him to evade the slash of his sword.

Sozin snapped between targets. They were like two wild dogs, one making a pass and then the other following with theirs as the first recovered. It was impossible for Sozin to get his own offense going. He couldn't control the fight as it was, so he would have to stagger their coordination somehow and create an opening.

Sozin summoned his windbending skills. He kicked back, using a small pocket of air he created in front of himself as a platform to create distance between himself and his hounding brothers. They were intent on grinding him down with relentless attacks until he eventually made a mistake. Given enough time, it was inevitable for any warrior to slip up, no matter how good they were, and Sozin had to end the fight before that happened. He saw them coming in again, hellbent on locking him into a position where he couldn't escape and would be forced to contend with them. But Sozin kept his wits about him. He saw Ukon go around once more for another flank as Hakoda beelined for the third time. Without warning, Sozin threw a handful of firecrackers in Hakoda's direction. The firecrackers detonated with fiery, defeaning pops, and Hakoda shouted. Gunpowder and tinier explosives were going off, scattering around in a blinding symphony of flashes and bangs that engulfed Hakoda like a storm of light.

There it was. His window of opportunity would only last a few seconds. While the explosives continued to go off, Sozin locked his eyes onto Ukon. He summoned streaks of wind around his blade that propelled him forward like a trident, closing the distance between the two. Ukon side-stepped the attack, countering with his own slash, but Sozin was too quick on his feet and blocked. Deciding not to take any chances, Sozin telegraphed an overhead, but morphed the attack into a sideslash just before he released it. Ukon tried to correct his oversight, but it was too late and the sword cut across his chest, scraping through ribs and organs, until it had come all the way out on the other side.

Ukon gasped for air with a single, twisted breath, his eyes widening in terror. He would've spoke, but he couldn't. Cold and unforbidding, Sozin reeled back and plunged his blade into Ukon's exposed neck, his desperate noises warping even further into an unintelligible gargle of death. Blood gushed as soon as Sozin had extracted his sword and Ukon dropped his own blade, crumpling to the floor while grasping at the large slit in his neck, red cascading down his shaking fingers as he attempted to plug the leak. The life was still leaving his horrified eyes as he hit the wooden boards with a thud.

Sozin craned his neck in Hakoda's direction. The firecrackers had finished going off, giving Hakoda enough time to gather himself again. Knowing he wasn't going to make it in time, Sozin started running for his brother as he pulled out a single shuriken and held it between his fingers. Using the winds, he spun it up until it whirled around viciously, whirring like a machine. Sozin threw the shuriken. He knew his brother would recover just in time to block it, and he did, but that wasn't the point. The shuriken, spurred on by the winds, crashed into Hakoda's katana, unwilling to be deflected as it grinded relentlessly against the blade. Hakoda gritted his teeth, crying out as he held the shuriken there and struggled to throw it off onto a different trajectory, but its momentum was as determined as the warrior that had thrown it. Sozin quickly moved in from the flank for the kill while Hakoda was occupied.

"No!" Hakoda growled.

Sozin winded up for an attack, but without any options left, Hakoda, in a desperate bid to live, slashed his katana wildly at Sozin. Unimpeded, the shuriken burst into Hakoda's chest, shredding through his ribs and embedding itself deep inside as Sozin stopped his blow short like it was nothing. Hakoda's breath caught and their blades pressed against each other, Sozin easily resisting his older brother's now rapidly fading strength.

"How did you get so... strong...?" Hakoda gasped out. He gave one, last dying breath—a whimper of defeat—before he collapsed onto his back.

Sozin drifted over to his fallen brother's side. He glowered down at him mercilessly. With a flick of his wrist, blood splattered off Sozin's sword as Hakoda's eyes glazed over like a candle being snuffed out by the dark.

But it wasn't over just yet.

From the background, a pair of uproarious hands began to clap, approaching with the sound of boisterous laughter. "Well done, my boy!" Danzo grinned heartily, indifferent to the fact his first two sons had just been killed by another of their own kin. He continued to laugh until he had walked up behind Sozin. Then his voice died back down into a murmur. "That was fast... but it was well worth watching."

A large hand gripped Sozin's shoulder from behind. Sozin stiffened up, silent and still wound tight with anger as a humorless look washed over his face. He didn't move a muscle, but the hair on his neck stood up as though to warn him of impending doom.

"As I suspected, you've gotten stronger. Much stronger..." Danzo continued, circling around like a shark until he was in front of Sozin. "I've been watching your training for a long while now. Your brothers were just a test. I already knew your skills far exceeded theirs. And now..." he said, taking note of Sozin's red eyes, "you have succeeded them where they have failed me. It seems the emotional trauma was enough for you to touch upon your spirit animal."

"That's why you did this..."

Danzo remained unconcerned about his actions. "All in accordance with my design." He started towards the doors leading back down into the living quarters. "Come, son. We have much to discuss and many things to do."

"I'm not going anywhere with you," Sozin said in defiance.

Danzo stopped in his tracks. Slowly, he looked over his shoulder. "What?" he huffed, taking the comment as a personal affront.

"My master is dead because of you. You thought I would just follow you so easily?" Sozin murmured darkly. "You!" he snarled, voice rising in disbelief as he pointed a raging finger. "The same man who has done nothing but stomp and shit on every effort I have ever made to make him proud! You don't deserve to call me your son and I never will be!"

"Your master?" he chuckled arrogantly, turning around to face Sozin's challenge. "Is that what's bothering you? Remember the first rule of the Shadow's Code," Danzo warned. "As your father, I order you to forsake your master!"

Sozin tightened his grip on his master's katana. Fear marked his face, but it was tempered by a grim anger. "Blood... is irrelevant."

"This is what you've decided?" Danzo's odachi grated with a harrowing rasp as he removed it from the sheath on his back. "Hmph," he grunted in dark dissatisfaction. "Have it your way, boy. If you want to be free so bad, then prove to me you're a worthy successor! Give me your all!"

The gap was quite big between them. Seeking an opener, Danzo pulled out a shuriken from his tunic. In the blink of an eye, he threw the shuriken at Sozin and immediately followed up with a powerful, chasing slice with speed unbefitting for a man of his size. Gritting his teeth, Sozin barely managed to move his blade fast enough to block the blow, nearly losing grip of his sword when it made contact. The power was there as well despite his father only wielding the heavy odachi with one hand. Stumbling backwards from the sheer force of the attack, Sozin rolled out of the way of an overhead that struck the floor, sending dust and chips of wood scattering. He doubled back immediately, creating distance to contemplate his strategy.

Sozin recovered his posture, settling his feet into the floor as Danzo went on the offensive. He had a split second or two to think a little. It was clear that his father's strikes were much stronger than either of his brother's, and Sozin knew he wouldn't be able to compete in that aspect. Not only were his father's attacks powerful, they were also faster than he had expected them to be. His father had nearly punished him for blocking his slice with an overhead, a play that had obviously been calculated beforehand. If he was going to win, then blocking wasn't an option or he'd risk getting knocked down from the incredible force of the attacks or losing his weapon which was even worse. He would have to deflect from this point on since he wasn't strong enough to stop the attacks directly, and both of them knew that. Deflection, unlike simple blocking, required a precise and guided contact between blades to divert the momentum from an attack. It was a more demanding response to an attack that required great focus to perform successfully. With that in mind, Sozin figured Danzo would probably try and throw him off with mix-ups until he eventually slipped up on a deflect, so he readied himself for the strategy, awaiting Danzo's next move as he came rushing in head-on.

Sozin watched his father's blade intently, anticipating its movements but deciding not to commit to a deflect until he was sure it was a real attack. As he suspected, Danzo feinted a slash and followed up with an elbow jab and a slice. Metal pinged against metal and sparks went flying everywhere, lighting up the night air with flecks of orange in all directions. Danzo continued to pressure Sozin with aggressive offense, moving him around the arena and controlling the space like he was trying to box in prey. It was a battle of mind games and physical skill. His father was no joke. His blade cut true, always as intended and was never swung wildly—a telltale sign of a distinguished master that planned every move and knew what they were doing. The experience gap was wide, Sozin had gleaned that much, but the gap could be closed in many ways. He just had to look for an opening, however small.

Sozin feinted several attacks into a final, real one, but Danzo deflected it and Sozin felt nothing but air.

"You won't fool me like you did your brother!" Danzo shouted between clashes.

Sozin continued to block Danzo's blows by the skin of his teeth, barely managing to deflect any as he was constantly staggered and pushed around. His father's mix-ups made it nearly impossible to predict the old man's next move, leaving Sozin skimming by on the edge of his reactions and making precise deflects nearly impossible. Sozin felt himself begin to tire as he had with Ikijo so many times before. The strikes were pounding against his smaller sword like a sledgehammer and shattering through the bones in his hands.

Clash after clash came and went. An overwhelming sideslash from his father's odachi sent Sozin skidding back on the balls of his waraji-clad feet, forcing him to jam his sword into the floorboards to stop himself from slamming into the wall enclosing an edge of the arena. Hellbent on backing him into the wall where he had nowhere to go, Danzo scrambled to get to Sozin. Sozin saw him coming in and desperately threw a round of firecrackers, but his father was too nimble for that. Danzo dashed through the cloud of gunpowder just as it started go off behind him in a blaze.

"This is the first time we've done this! You honor me with your tactics!" Danzo yelled gruffly. He leapt forward into a somersault, coming down into an overhead with a dropping smash that quaked the floor as though a cannonball had landed.

Sozin rolled out of the way, tossing a futile shuriken in response. He decided to try firecrackers again and threw another arcing cloud between him and Danzo. It exploded, obscuring their line of sight on each other with blanket of blinding flashes. Danzo grinned, half amused and half insulted by the fact that his son considered him so foolish as to fall victim to such a ploy after seeing it used before. But then Danzo's grin faded as his son burst through the fire, his sword imbued with streaking winds that hurtled him through the air like a bird of prey. Danzo's eyes widened in that split second. He wouldn't be able to raise his sword in time. Desperately, he tried to whip his head back to dodge the attack, but the sword nicked his cheek, cutting into the flesh and drawing blood.

Sozin came out of the attack touching down on the other side of Danzo. He sunk into his defensive stance as soon as he did.

Danzo raised a shocked hand to his cheek, feeling the blood collect in splotches on his fingers as it oozed out merrily. His own son had outsmarted him and nearly gotten the better of himself. "Boy..." he muttered darkly. "It breaks my heart that you intend on killing me..." His voice exploded into a yell. "But I suppose it's fitting that I'm the one who gets to put you down! Allow me to honor your efforts by showing you the true power of the Great Mist Raven!"

Danzo leapt away from Sozin, creating space so he could perform his technique. He narrowed his purple eyes as he pressed his hands together and summoned the spirit of a raven from the great beyond. As dark as nightshade, the sinister bird materialized out of thin air from smoky wisps of arcane energy. It was much bigger than normal—around the size of a large owl—and it circled overhead above Danzo.

A malevolent smirk traced its way onto Danzo's face. In less than a second, he had dissipated into a cloud of iridescent raven feathers, taking control over the spirit animal. He rose, climbing all the way to the roof of the arena as a part of the bird before materializing and descending upon Sozin with an obliterating slam that blasted the floorboards. The very floor itself thundered with energy as Sozin tried to roll out of the way but was knocked off his feet and blown back in a tumble from the epicenter. He hit the wood hard, scraping the side of his face as his cheek grazed the rough texture. Sprawled all over the floor from the attack, Sozin's focus was in shambles, but the rapid pitter-patter of heavy footsteps shocked it back to life, making him glance over his shoulder in panic. Summoning all his strength, Sozin exploded upwards, bursting onto his feet just as Danzo closed in on him with several merciless slashes that rattled him like charging tiger.

On standby, the raven was circling overhead and watching the battle as it continued to unfold. With a spirit animal in play, Sozin knew he had to finish the fight now before it got out of hand. Things were barely within his grasp as it was, and he struggled to keep up with Danzo's relentless assault. He knew he wouldn't survive like this. It was only a matter of time before Danzo's experience, skill, and power got the better of him. He had to tip the scales in his favor somehow.

Danzo pulled back from Sozin, giving him a small breather. He raised his arm to call upon the raven. Seeing his outstretched arm, the bird dove down to Danzo, alighting on his wrist in await of his command. Eyeing Sozin, Danzo pointed with his odachi at him and the bird instantly burst aflame into a mass of pure and raging fire. Harsh like a cry of war, the bird screeched and went on the hunt, diving low to the floor and rocketing right towards Sozin, intent on running him into the ground.

Sozin's eyes flared with adrenaline, but he held his position and waited for the proper moment. Just before the bird was about to impact with him, he leapt forward, frontflipping over the beast as it shot out from under his body and rose back into the air.

Danzo saw his opportunity with a hungry gaze. His son had jumped, and now, he had nowhere to go but down. Having anticipated this maneuver, Danzo reeled back his odachi to kill Sozin upon touch down, but Sozin created a pocket of air beneath his feet and jumped a second time over and behind Danzo.

"Never seen that before. Did your master teach you that?" Danzo goaded.

Sozin was too busy with himself to consider talking back. It was two against one again, and his terrorizing blood shot through his veins, slowly grinding his resolve like rapids against the rocks. As though it was careful dance, a balancing act of life and death that everything hinged upon, Sozin carefully micromanaged the flaming raven by using the firecrackers to keep Danzo at bay every time it came in for a pass. This way, he only had to focus on one opponent at a time. He was almost out of firecrackers in doing so, using them as sparingly as he could, but still, he was running out quicker than he'd hoped. They were only to buy time, but in a battle that was going downhill, he knew he would need a lot more than just that. Time would only delay his death. He needed a solution to go along with it.

Sozin's prospects grew more dire as each second passed, but all was not lost. The heat of battle and depleting options seemed to sting his thoughts into overdrive. As part of his martial arts training, Ikijo had taught Sozin how to incapacitate opponents with a forbidden paralysis technique. One strike alone would not allow for total paralysis, the body was simply too complicated of a machine for that, but the technique could disable a critical portion of it that might change the way the fight was going. The crux of the technique was that you had to get within hand-to-hand range and hit precise nerve points on the body in order for it to work. Considering the length of Danzo's odachi, getting in close enough to perform a strike was a tough gambit to make, but this plan was all Sozin had to go on at the moment. It seemed like it would work. The same as him, his father was also right-handed swordsman, and if he took out his main hand, it would mean everything for Sozin's success in direct combat. Simple tricks like feints and mix-ups, especially Sozin's rather rudimentary ones, weren't going to work against a man as smart and predictive as his father, so overpowering him through direct combat was the only viable answer. He was going to have to risk getting in close to turn the tides or die helpless. On the plus side, his father probably didn't know about this technique or the fact that Sozin had learned it since it was forbidden—it was a wildcard he couldn't possibly expect.

With no tools left to delay his father any longer, it was time to put the plan into action. Sozin threw the last of his firecrackers, timing things so that by the time he dodged the bird, they would come to end, and Danzo could engage him immediately. Right on cue, as soon as Sozin had leapt out of the way, the flashes and bangs ended and Danzo came darting in for his opportunity now that Sozin was finally out of options. Danzo reeled back his weapon, Sozin's eyes following his father's blade, trying to decipher whether it was a feint or a real attack all in the matter of a split second.

Sozin's eyes flashed.

It was real!

Sozin dashed in to arm's reach as the odachi came down, driving his momentum into an upwards swing to smash their blades together and halt them into a deadlocked clash. Sozin braced his feet against the ground, weight digging into the wood as the blades collided. The boom of steel against steel broke the air. They both gritted their teeth, vying for leverage against the other in a sudden death power struggle, but Danzo towered over Sozin and had size and strength on his side. He was quickly going to win out, and he focused exclusively on overwhelming Sozin with his brawn, not realizing what was going to happen. Twisting in his hands, Sozin's sword was nearly about to give way under the pressure, but before his father could overpower him, Sozin let go of his sword with his left hand and pressed all his fingers together into one point, as though they were forming the head of a cobra, and jabbed Danzo at the pressure point in his right shoulder all in one lightning-fast motion. Growling in pain, the force of the jab twisted Danzo's torso around on a swivel and sent him wobbling back. His right hand let go of his odachi, falling limp along with his arm.

The odachi clattered against the floorboards. Sozin tried to capitalize, but in the background, the spirit raven had realized what was going on and tried to help a weaponless Danzo. Just then, it began to come in for another swoop. Hearing a familiar screech coming from his side, Sozin was forced to evade the flaming raven once more by backflipping.

Danzo was able to pick up his weapon with his still-working left hand. Without any more firecrackers, Sozin was going to have to divide his attention between the two of them, but things would be a bit easier now that his fathers attacks were less of a problem. Timing it in his head, the bird would swoop in for a pass and then take a few moments to come back around. He would have several seconds between each pass to go on the offensive.

"It's only a matter of time before you die!" Danzo yelled. "By my hand or theirs! Once the Ministry finds out you killed me, they won't stop until you're dead!"

It was now or never! Moving in with haste, Sozin charged at Danzo, unleashing a flurry of attacks that his father was now struggling to keep up with. In a futile attempt at offense, Danzo raised his weapon for an overhead, but Sozin wasn't afraid to block anymore. He stopped the attack head-on, pressing into Danzo with all his strength for another clash. The blades divided them, but their gazes met for a brief but chilling moment. In that fleeting second of time, the burning in their lungs, their struggling grunts, and the screeching of the raven, it had all stopped for both of them.

Sozin knew then that it was over.

Shoving his father off of him, Danzo stumbled sideways, planting his sword-wielding hand onto the ground to keep himself from falling. Danzo scrambled to pick himself up, trying to throw himself back towards Sozin in time to meet his next strike, but it was already too late. Sozin had already reeled his weapon back, and the next thing he felt was the feeling of cold steel running straight through his stomach.

Danzo dropped his sword.

It hit the ground with a deafening clank.

"Feel that?" Sozin whispered. "That's from Ikijo."

Sozin instantly felt his father weaken, his legs buckling like supports that had been kicked out from underneath him. He fell to his knees, holding his son's penetrating stare the entire way down. His normally harsh eyes glanced at the sword embedded in the middle of him. Startled, they quickly relaxed in acceptance of fate and were replaced by a deep weariness.

"He trained you well. Better than I ever could've..." Danzo grinned weakly. Huffing, he rested a feeble hand atop Sozin's blade. He chuckled as best as he could. "Well done... I'll take some pride in the fact that it took my own son to kill me..." he said softly. "The taste of defeat is not as bitter as I'd expected. Maybe even sweet..."

Solemn as stone, Sozin didn't say anything. He merely watched as Danzo examined his crimson irises with curious intent.

"Those eyes... I'd recognize them anywhere. You're a shadowborn just like your father..." Danzo continued, fascinated by his son. "I remember when I was your age. I sensed a dark spirit inside of me not unlike the one stirring inside you at this very moment. You can feel it, can't you, boy? I didn't know what I would become just like you don't now... Even if you hate it, you're more like me than you'll ever realize, now and in the future..."

"We are nothing alike," Sozin sneered.

"Don't underestimate blood, my boy. It is a powerful thing..." Danzo blinked with heavy eyelids. His energy was fading fast as a deep red stained the grey fabric around his stomach. "What are you going to do now?"

"Leave... I won't be coming back."

"It's a shame things have to end this way, but you have chosen this..." Danzo struggled to say, wincing in pain. "Before you go, don't forget the scroll in my room on the first floor. You know where it is. It'll help you evade the Ministry ninja..."

"Goodbye, father." Sozin was void and emotionless.

"Goodbye, Sozin..." Danzo said longingly. "I am proud to call you my son..."

The old man then began to chuckle again, but this time, in an eerie manner. In his heart, he knew he had kickstarted the creation of something even more terrible and monstrous than himself. The cycle could only continue from here, and no father could ever ask for any greater legacy than to be surpassed by one of his own. In a way, he had been immortalized.

Sozin snorted in disgust at his father's sense of humor. Yanking his sword from the man's gut, he drove the blade through the neck and into the spine, killing Danzo instantly. Danzo collapsed to the ground, lifeless like the other two bodies that Sozin had claimed.

There was the thud and then the bloody silence.

A grimace washed over, and something seemed to break inside of Sozin. He shut his lids tight, still trying to hold back when he couldn't any longer, and pinched the corners of his eyes. "A son killing his own father? In a perfect world, I would've never had to do this," he tremored in a mangled voice.

It was at that very moment that the doors to the tower lookout slid open.

Sozin gasped. It couldn't be anyone else other than his mother. He didn't need to look back to know it was her—the lack of words was enough to tell the instant it fell upon his ears. The first thing she'd noticed was a man in Ministry gear standing over her husband's dead body. Then her eyes darted to the corpses of her two eldest sons.

She panicked, shrieking at the top of her lungs. "Assassin!" she cried. "Assassin!"

But then the man in Ministry gear turned around, his slow and minacious gaze falling upon her robed form.

"Sozin?" Ursa blurted out in shock. Her voice hesitated and she backed away from the open area of the arena.

His eyes.

Red.

Red like a demon.

Sozin watched as she ran back inside the building. Knowing her allegiances, she was probably going to fetch the estate guards and have him arrested.

With no time to spare, Sozin made his way down the side of the tower all the way to ground level. He burst into Danzo's room, throwing open the door with wood-smacking slam. The sound of guards racing up the stairs met his ears from another part of the building. By the time he had dug the planks out of the floor and retrieved his father's scroll, he heard more guards and set of hostile voices stirring just outside the paper walls.

"Find him! Search the entire area if you have to. He couldn't have gone very far," one of the guards commanded.

Gripping the scroll tightly, Sozin snuck away from the voices through the halls of the living quarters. He slipped out the back of the building and into the darkened forest where he would have an easy time blending in with the shadows. Then he began running. It didn't matter where he was going; all that mattered was that he escaped with his life still in his own hands. Every now and then, when he thought he had gotten away, he would stop, look back, and see the torchlights of a search party in the forest and men on horses. He ran until he couldn't see anything anymore. He ran until his very legs began to give out and he started crying in the dirt, nothing more than a sobbing ball of tears.

He cried until the dark voice in his head told him to get off the ground.


	8. The Big Bad

Bright and full, the moon hung high in the darkened heavens as though to watch over a fallen soul. Sozin was sprawled out over the forest floor, one of his puffy, red cheeks pressed into the cold dirt. It was the dead of winter and silverly light fell freely, unhindered by branches no longer burdened by leaves, illuminating Sozin's defeated form. Dried tears had frozen onto his face. He didn't know where he was anymore. He had just ran, and ran, and ran until his exhaustion and diminishing will brought him to his knees. His eyes were closed, but sleep was only a momentary escape from the nightmare that had engulfed his life.

A strange, foreign presence in the back of Sozin's mind roused him from his slumber, compelling him to awaken. His eyes fluttered open and met the forest ground that was in his face, but the ground was not cold and frozen over like he had remembered it being, instead it was warm and welcoming as though it was spring. Sozin didn't know how long he'd been sleeping for, but the weakness in his bones and still vigorous pain in his heart told him he hadn't slept long at all. He heard someone speak which roused him even further.

"It would do you well to get on your feet," a dark and gravelly voice advised him. "The ground is no place for the likes of us."

Without much energy to move or even react, a weary Sozin pressed himself off the ground and into a sitting position. Turning his head towards what was seemingly the source of the voice, Sozin chose to stay quiet rather than respond to it. Not far to the side of him, a sinister-looking wolf sat atop the mouth of a shadowed cave. A wolf with large, sharply pointed ears, fur black like soot, and blood-red eyes. Under normal circumstances, Sozin would've been frightened, but he was in low spirits, and for some reason, the air stirring around him seemed to quell any thoughts of fear and told him he didn't need to be alarmed.

Sozin leaned back onto his hands as he took in the sight of this animal and then his surroundings. He was still in a forest but the location was different from the one he had fallen asleep in—this one had trees bearing leaves as though it was still spring, it was warm, and also daytime. Despite never seeing this place before, deep in his soul, Sozin felt like he had some sort of visceral connection to it.

Sozin turned his attention back to the only other creature in the vicinity—this sinister-looking wolf that seemed to have spoken the human tongue. With those penetrating eyes of his, the wolf gazed at Sozin intently, not moving or speaking, simply staring, studying, and examining him as though he was waiting on his response. There was no one else around except for this lone figure, and the voice had come from that direction, so as crazy as it was, Sozin remained steadfast in his leap of logic and assumed that he must've been the speaker. The idea of an animal talking and responding to one like it was a person didn't surprise him as much as he thought it would. He was a spiritborn after all. He figured that this must be part of the deal.

"Who are you?" Sozin asked. "And where am I?"

"Who am I?" the creature repeated with grave intent. A slow, sinister, toothy grin unfurled upon the wolf's blackened lips. "I... am a reflection... of all your sins..." he intoned with a drawl. "Your brother in fate and fate alone. I am here to guide you along that path which entwines us both. Welcome to the spirit world, Sozin..." he murmured in chilly words.

"You know me?" Sozin asked.

"I do..." he said, drifting down the cave towards the young man. "As your spirit animal, I've been watching over you ever since you were born. I'm from the animal world, and the spirit world is where we cross together with yours. My name is Valenos, but since we're brothers, you can just call me Wolf. It's a bit on the nose but rolls off the tongue quicker, I would say."

"Brothers?" Sozin said. "But you're not even human."

Wolf sat down in front of Sozin. "Like I said, we're brothers in fate. Why do you think I'm your spirit animal, after all?"

"Right... Uh... How did I end up here?" Sozin asked.

"You didn't," Wolf said. "Technically, you're not here since your physical body isn't. You're actually sleeping right now, but I'm glad you fell asleep since that's what allowed us to make contact in the first place. It's easier for us to communicate when your mind isn't in the human world."

"Oh... Well, this is all rather sudden. If you don't mind, Wolf, I'd like to get back to the real world and make sure I'm okay," Sozin said. "Can you tell me how? I had some people chasing me earlier."

"Yeah, I know, and that'd be good. Your mind acts as a gateway. Focus on the external world to wake up, and if you want to come back here, then focus on the internal. Do yourself a favor and get your real face out of the dirt before we go any further—I don't like seeing you like that."

Nodding, Sozin searched for the presence of the external world Wolf had told him of. He felt something overwhelming coming from all around him which seemed to be it. Focusing on that, then he blinked, and he was instantly back in the real world, cheek on the ground again. Only this time it was cold and had begun to snow.

The sound of gently flowing stream water met Sozin's ears. Sluggish, he slowly picked himself up and took a gander around, recognizing the nearby stream as a landmark of the surroundings he'd fallen asleep in. It was still nighttime and there was nobody else in the area.

"Hey, can you hear me, brother? Looks like you're safe. Come back so we can talk," Wolf said from the spirit realm. His words seemed to have no source now. They came from everywhere, filling Sozin's head as though Wolf's voice was a room and Sozin was in the center of it.

"How do you know that? I'm not in the spirit realm anymore. You can still see me?" Sozin said.

"Oh, good—you can hear me. Seems like we've finally established a connection with each other. Yes, your mind isn't in the spirit realm anymore, but your spiritual body still is. Now you're sleeping over here. By the way, since you have my eyes, I can see exactly what you're seeing in the human world."

"What do you mean 'your eyes'?" Sozin asked.

"Go look at your reflection in the creek and find out," Wolf said.

Sozin did as his spirit animal commanded of him and ambled over to the bank of the stream. Although the moon was full, it was still fairly dark out with the light filtering poorly through the ominous clouds. Strangely, Sozin found it unusually easy to see in such conditions. Normally, he wouldn't be able to see much at all—Ikijo and him had done a lot of training at night so that he could move around effortlessly in the dark—although now his vision was clearer than it had ever been at this time.

Sozin kneeled down at the water's edge. He reached a tentative hand up to his face and pulled his lower eyelid down to get a better look at the sinister red that now marked his forlorn eyes.

"One does not bear such eyes lightly," Wolf said. "As the lone wolf, they are born from pain and pain alone."

"Pain... Seems to be a lot of that going around these days," Sozin said in morbid fascination. The gritty expression on his face cracked in some places from somber emotions bubbling underneath the surface. "My father used the only person I ever cared about to awaken you..."

Sozin sighed. Deciding to head back to the spirit realm, he focused on the internal world and instantly felt as though his presence of mind had been cleaved in half. He quickly noticed that he was now in two places at once: the real world and the spirit world. Experimenting a little, Sozin realized that if he put his focus into only one realm, then that world is all that he would experience, like closing one eye but not the other. If he had both open, he could simultaneously control both bodies, but it required a bit more concentration to do that.

"Are you having some trouble concentrating?" Wolf said, noticing the strain on Sozin's face.

"Yeah..." Sozin said. "I've meditated with Ikijo before, but this is something else."

"You'll get used to it eventually, but for now, I'll come to you," Wolf said.

Out of thin air, wisps of ash and dust formed, and Wolf slowly began materializing from them next to Sozin. As Wolf came into being, Sozin felt something detach from somewhere deep inside him, but the feeling was gone when the materialization was complete.

Sozin's eyebrows creased with interest when they fell upon Wolf's lean and compacted form. The wolf wasn't exactly scrawny but couldn't quite avoid being described as skinny either, looking fairly light-footed and quick on his feet, all of which reminded Sozin a lot of himself. It was then that the surrealness of this whole situation washed over Sozin's face. Slowly reaching over, he put a hand on Wolf's shoulder with uncertainty, fingers then running hesitantly through the rugged coat of fur. By the wolf's ribs, Sozin briefly felt what his eyes had caughten a glimpse of just moments earlier—what seemed to be faded claw marks from a massive animal. The hair in those spots was tarnished. Old scars, no doubt. Curiously, the wolf also had three marks on the side of his muzzle, much like Sozin did on his cheek. Except for the marks on the ribs, it was like they were perfect mirrors of each other.

"What are you doing?" Wolf asked calmly, glancing at the young man's fingers.

"Just making sure you're real." Sozin patted Wolf on his shoulder. Smiling, he added in a neat little voice, "Nice pelt too. Battle-worn..."

Wolf sniggered and sat down beside the young man. "Thanks," he grinned, his amusement bleeding through his words. "When you do that, you gotta say no homo though since we both have dicks."

"What?" Sozin retracted his hand and a toothy grin formed on his face too. "We're a different species though."

"Especially when we're a different species!" Wolf said rowdily. "I've heard about what you humans do!"

"Okay, okay. Let me try again," Sozin said, lips relaxing as he suddenly turned serious. With a casual expression on his face, he planted the same hand back onto Wolf's coat again, this time making sure squeeze a little and make eye contact in the most uncomfortable way possible. "No homo," he whispered sensually.

Their faces instantly lit up, and then, both man and beast burst into uproarious laughter, seemingly not so different from each other at all when it came down to it. They laughed hard and long, filling the air with some joyous noise. The forest was that much brighter for those few, precious seconds, and Sozin felt as though he had known Wolf all his life already. But like any good thing, the brightness wasn't meant to last.

"You're stupid, bro," Wolf managed to say between his chuckles of dying laughter.

Turning his attention back to the stream, Sozin hugged his knees with a half-smile, half-frown. "Welcome to the human world, Valenos," he lamented. "It's a giant piece of shit."

"Yeah, I feel that," Wolf said, finally turning serious as well. "Sorry about your master. I know that's probably weighing down on you right now."

"He was everything I had..." Sozin said quietly.

"I understand completely," Wolf huffed. "I, too, had a mentor once."

"What was he like?"

Wolf's time-hardened gaze fell to the stream in reminiscence. "Oh, he was great... I think you would've liked him. He meant to me what Ikijo meant to you."

"A lot then..." Sozin said.

"Yes," Wolf murmured. "A lot... When I was young, I was a terrible hunter and my pack cast me out for being a burden like your family did to you."

"Really?"

"Yep... Turns out no one likes you if you can't pull your own weight or if the color of your fur is different... even if none of that is really under your control..." Wolf grinded his paw into the dirt in frustration. "I've realized that sometimes you're just not good at things. Sometimes you just aren't born right. But Belmor took me in despite the fact that I was nothing but a burden to him at the time. He gave me a chance. He was a lone wolf too, and he taught me how to fend for myself. Took me a while to get the hang of the lifestyle, but he never gave up on me."

"That hits pretty close to home," Sozin said glumly. "I know what that feels like. To not be good at something—or anything, really—and have everyone hate you for it even if it's not your fault." Sozin's eyes narrowed in dark contemplation. "I was born weak and incompetent... I was born... different... I had to claw my way up a mountain of shit to get where I am now."

"I've seen how people have treated you. You and I... We're more alike than I think you realize," Wolf said. "You know, I was alive for a very long time before coming to the spirit world. I used to be in similar spot to the one you're in right now, and I can show you the way if you allow me to. I can help guide you along the path of the lone."

"I've never had a spirit animal before," Sozin said.

Wolf smiled, his tail brushing across the ground. "And I have never had a spirit user. But I suppose there's a first time for everything."

Just then, Sozin's stomach protested in fierce demand of food. He put an exhausted hand on his belly, finally noticing the pit of hunger that was growing there. The young man grumbled wearily.

Wolf's mouth curled up into a fond smile. "Hungry?"

"Unfortunately..." Sozin mumbled, not too keen on sharing Wolf's amusement. Too tired to even sit upright, he buried his face into his hands and lowered himself back onto the ground, letting the land's icy chill leach into his bones and sap more of his already diminishing energy. It's cold embrace wasn't entirely unwelcoming given the circumstances. "If no one finds me, maybe I should just lie here and starve. I don't have any energy left to do anything," Sozin said weakly.

Flecks of snow began to stand out and collect on Wolf's dark coat. His grin quickly perished in the gloominess of the air. "So you've lost your will to live. You just got off the ground, and now you're back down there again. You plan on dying here?" Wolf moved closer to Sozin's side and looked down upon the young man's dejected face. It was the face of a man that had given up.

Face still in his hands, Sozin gave a slow and bleak nod from the ground. He threw his arms out to the sides and turned his head from Wolf's, averting his gaze in defeat. "I'm a fugitive now," he muttered. "I can't be seen anywhere, I don't have any money, and I don't even know where I am."

"Seems like you've got nothing left to lose. Why not get up then?"

"With what strength?"

"With your hatred," Wolf said with quiet intensity. "I can feel it from here—the strongest of all emotions stirring inside your soul right now in abundance. Let it energize you... Let the suffering inflicted on you by others be directed back as a tool against them... Hatred is a natural form of strength for the likes of you and I, but you are lingering on its source which is your pain. That sort of thinking will only serve to drag you down. You will become rigid and useless like you are currently unless you keep sight of both and understand their natural relationship."

Sozin gazed into the distance with apathetic eyes. "Sounds like a bunch of nonsense."

"If you want to die, then die," Wolf sneered. "Your mother would want you to do that. She's probably hoping for it after what you did."

Startled, Sozin shot upright almost immediately. His eyes flared in surprise, and all of a sudden, pain and hatred both rushed equally throughout his body like some kind of toxic fuel. Wolf saw it on his face and Sozin realized as well—it was as though someone had flipped on a switch he didn't know was there.

"Now you see..." Wolf continued, speaking in a low voice. "It's a paradox, isn't it? Pain is not the only source of hatred, but when it is, it gives you strength, and yet, breaks you down at the same time."

"You told me that on purpose," Sozin said.

Wolf's gaze hardened into harsh resolution. "I'm telling you what you need to hear. Not what you deserve to."

Sozin resonated with that sentiment. He nodded in acceptance of Wolf's wisdom and stood up with his newfound energy. However paradoxical it was, it was the only thing gluing together his broken spirit. "Let's go then..." Sozin murmured. His voice was only a hair away from giving up again. "I need something to eat. Maybe I can find some food around here. I'm sure word has gotten out by now of what's happened, so we should stay away from roads and settlements, not that I even know where they are at this point."

Wolf eyed the barren forest. Right now, the forest floor had only been dusted with a thin layer of white, but it would soon be thick with snow. "I've seen conditions like these before," he said with a flicker of reminisence. "Prey is scarce. You will find little, if anything, to eat here."

"Well, going into town isn't an option," Sozin said. "This is what we've got."

"I've hunted all my life in all sorts of conditions," Wolf said. "As the lone wolf, you learn to be resourceful with what you have since you've got no one else to depend on. Merge with me, brother, and I will show you the way."

"Yeah, sure. Can you tell me how to first?" Sozin asked.

"Oh, right," Wolf said. "As spirit animal and spirit user, we have an ethereal connection to each other. Just focus on my spirit and go along with the rest."

Sozin closed his eyes and concentrated on the dark energies emanating from all around Wolf. As he concentrated, his entire person quickly dissipated into ash and dust which then vanished out of existence as it assimilated into Wolf's body. Sozin's perspective had changed in a flash. Whereas he was once in the real world, instead, he now saw through Wolf's eyes and his own in the spirit realm.

Wolf looked up at Sozin. "It might take a while to find some prey, so sit tight."

Sozin sat down and leaned back against a leafy tree in the spirit realm. He was just doing as his spirit animal had asked of him, but he also preferred if they spoke at eye-level. "Fine by me. You're the one doing all the walking."

The sound of a chilling wind was all that rustled through the forest. They both remained in a comfortable silence for a while as Wolf searched for something to eat. The thickening layer of snow dampened the noise of his already quiet footsteps—the hallmark of an experienced hunter. Normally, he would be at disadvantage when hunting against a white background, but it was also dark out, and his black fur easily slipped between the shadows.

Wolf's eyes twinkled as he remembered something. He thought it was worth talking about. "You know—it's interesting—this reminds me of a story," he said, breaking the silence in the spirit realm.

Sozin picked his brooding head up from between his legs. He was quite enjoying the warm sunlight that was filtering through the canopy. "Is it a funny story?" he asked.

"Not really—Well, unless you're the sadistic type," Wolf chuckled. "I saw you looking at my scars earlier, so I bet you're curious. Let me tell you about the time when I was in a place just like this and hungry just like you..."

o - o - o - o - o

It was a cold and snowy day.

Long ago on another Earth, in a now desolate and frigid forest where the winters were long and the summers were short, a lone wolf with blood eyes and ashen fur prowled the landscape in search of a morsel of food. Again, and for some time now, it was just him looking out for himself. That's how things had been for most of his life, even when he was in a pack. He had gotten fairly good at it—surviving, that is—however, he needed to be as it wasn't his choice. It never was. His family abandoned him when he was young, and his only real father figure and mentor had finally died of old age, but at the very least, not before passing on a little of what he'd learned in his life in the short time he had left. Times were hard, and it seemed that all the wolf had these days was the harsh and bitter kiss of nature to keep him company.

That, and one beast of an animal—a large male bear who called himself Thelonius. He was an apex predator.

If Wolf was sure of one thing, it's that neither were the good kind of company. He had come to the bear's cave in search of hospitality, but around this time of year, when times were tough and didn't seem like they were going to get any better, food and warmth weren't the only things that were hard to come by. He'd decided to linger in the bear's territory even after he'd told Thelonius that he would leave. It was a ploy, of course—a deceptive lie put in place to appease the bear so that he could stave off starvation and live to see another season. As a lone wolf, he had no pack to protect and provide for him anymore, not that they ever really did much of that anyway. Confrontation was to be avoided at all costs. An injury for a lone predator was most certainly a death sentence.

Drawing from his memories, Wolf still remembered the conversation they had in the bear's chilling cave. He remembered the way his nerves wracked, the way the shadows stirred in the corner as the brown beast rose, his one good eye darting wildly, the other marred with a slash, likely from a brutal run-in with another male. The scars alone were enough to send a shiver down Wolf's spine, but the cave was also littered with the bones of what seemed to a be grown bull moose—prey so dangerous that even most bears stayed clear of them. But not Thelonius. Thelonius was the largest male he had ever seen, and he loomed over Wolf as they spoke.

"C'mon, big guy. Normally, I wouldn't come here begging, but cut me some slack. All I ask is that you let me do some light hunting on your land," Wolf said, nudging some of the bones in the bear's cave. A pang of hunger hit his stomach when he realized that they'd all been picked clean. "I won't gorge," Wolf added, trying to sweeten the deal. "I'll only eat just enough to keep starvation at bay."

"No, Valenos!" an angry Thelonius said in a thick and rough voice. "As another predator, you should know how it is for us at this time of year. And besides, I don't take well to your kind anyway. More than a number of times, I've had to deal with whole gangs of you encroaching on my territory, stealing my food, and trying to claim my home. Why would I look on you with much charity? I will certainly not be inconvenienced by the likes of one whose kind has scorned me."

Wolf nodded in agreement. "I understand, and I apologize for the actions of the other wolves—they're mobs, I admit—but I'm not like them."

Thelonius couldn't believe what he had just heard. His voice rose into a snarl. "Do you think that just because you're a little different than the rest of your species that I'm going to hate you any less?"

"No, but as you say, it's tough for us predators during this season. We may not be the same species, but one carnivore to another, surely you can understand my situation? Is a little hospitality too much to ask for?" Wolf said, looking up at the bear. "I'll make it worth your while. You can rest assured knowing that I always pay back my debts."

"That may be so, but I care little about what a measly animal like you can provide for me," Thelonius sneered back down. His grey eyes narrowed.

"I was afraid you would say that," Wolf snorted. He glanced away for a thoughtful moment. "Shouldn't you be hibernating right now? Of what use is this land to you currently?"

Tired of repeating himself, Thelonius seethed in simmering anger. "You know why I can't hibernate. The warm seasons were not very generous this year, and I've put on less weight than usual. I need to eat everything I can."

"What if I-"

"Enough!" Thelonius snapped. "I've told you all I need to! Get out of here with your petty persuasion! If I catch you in my woods again, you won't like what happens," he growled.

The air hung heavy for a brief moment until Wolf returned the bears fierce look with one of grudging acceptance. "I see it's time for me to leave..." he murmured, disappointed at his unexpected loss. He had been unsuccessful in his pursuits, but pride still lurked somewhere on Wolf's face. "Very well then. I suppose I'll have to go ask those of the neighboring territories and find out what they have to say. You won't see me around here anymore..."

Wolf lumbered out, a dirty look that the bear couldn't see washing over his face as he exited the cave. There were no neighboring territories left to go to as Wolf had already tried them all, and this had been his last stop. Worse than that, he could already feel the firm grip of starvation beginning to take hold in his stomach, enticed even further by the cold hands of Mother Nature. Sometimes it didn't pay to be lean and lithe as he currently was now.

Wolf smacked his lips.

He must eat. He was compelled to.

Fortunately for Wolf, he wasn't actually planning on going anywhere unlike what the bear seemed to think. Wolf wasn't surprised that a simple lie such as that had actually worked. Did the bear really thing he, a starving wolf, was going to leave his territory during a time like this? His two choices were starvation or getting to live for another season unless he was caught trespassing. A move like that wouldn't have fooled a smarter carnivore such as a fox—they would have noticed the pick your poison scenario that Wolf was in, known that he had exhausted his other options, and realized which of the two choices was the better one and thus the one he was going to inevitably make—but bears were meatheads, and they had no use for brains nor cunning with their amount of strength. But a lone wolf did, however. The lone wolf had to get by somehow. For an animal without size, strength, nor numbers on their side, sometimes cunning was the only way to survive. It was an art that Wolf had perfected over the years and had honed through Belmor's help. Even now, he continued to improve his skill as there was no end to its nefarious limits.

For the next few weeks, Wolf lingered on Thelonius's wide-ranging land, hunting without a care in the world for the bear's wishes or survival prospects. The bear's well-known power afforded him a great deal of territory, but still, prey was scarce even on such a vast amount of land and Wolf took everything he came across, unlike what he would've done had Thelonius bothered to throw him even the smallest of bones. As Thelonius had made it clear, it was every animal for himself out in the wild, so he showed no regard about constraining his hunting habits. The bear could starve for all he cared. Thelonius surely wouldn't be happy if he caught him in the midst of stealing kills, but if that did, indeed, happen, Wolf was certain that he could outrun the large and cumbersome predator. Despite that certainty, Wolf didn't want to take any chances. Wishing to avoid confrontation, he made sure to be careful about his eating habits by covering his tracks, sticking to the edges of the territory, and tried to kill with as little blood as possible, rubbing out into the snow anything that escaped from his mouth or bled from the prey itself.

Even now, with access to food, what Wolf had managed to procure wasn't much to go on. He had to pick every bone clean and still left feeling hungry with how infrequent his meals were occuring. The only things he could reasonably catch in the area were snow hares, squirrels, mice, and beavers—small, meager things that provided little in the way of calories. Their small size wouldn't have been a problem if they were plentiful, but they weren't. The other issue was that anything else like doe, a fast and agile prey that was a better source of calories, would require too much energy to be worth the risk of failure, so Wolf figured it was just better to coast by on easier, smaller game. Not to mention that Thelonius would likely notice his presence if he started killing bigger game too, and that was the last thing Wolf wanted. They were too high profile. As a large animal with hefty food requirements, deer were a bigger part of Thelonius's diet than they were Wolf's own, and that made them a dangerous resource to tap into. As opposed to a few hairballs, Thelonius would surely recognize any signs of his main prey diminishing and see that as someone was stealing his kills if Wolf started hunting them. The already poor nutrition of Wolf's diet also meant that he wasn't at full strength anyway which only made it all the more risky to make a deer attempt. He'd just end up in a worse spot than before, tired and even hungrier if his hunt went wrong.

Despite being forced to stick to the sparsely populated small game, somehow, Wolf managed to make it from one meal to the next. As Mother Nature would have it, he was particularly lucky one day to catch a plump snow hare amid the woody stems of a sapling. Perched overhead in the sky, the midday sun had seemed to be shining in just the right way for Wolf to spot the animal. Perhaps he was just lucky, or maybe it was a treat, he supposed, that someone or something had decided to bestow upon him for all the suffering he'd endured up to this point. Right then and there, he got a fuzzy feeling of success like after every fruitful hunt, a particularly comforting one considering his malnourished condition. In that moment of sweet relief, there was nothing greater than the sensation of digging his teeth into the hare's warm and succulent flesh. The taste of sustenance upon a starving tongue was like none other that he knew of. Nothing held a candle. It was so great that he couldn't help himself from eating all of it.

Blood, meat, bones, and even the hair...

He savored it all.

But the whole time, the conspiring shadows had twisted ominously behind Wolf, no longer working in his favor. Wolf had been so occupied eating his food that he didn't notice Thelonius lurking up from the rear until the bear was looming just behind him.

A monstrous shadow was all he saw in the corner of his eye, but by then, it was too late.

"I warned you, Valenos," the bear breathed in a deathly whisper.

Those harrowing words.

Wolf gasped, his head shooting up.

Wolf didn't have any time to react or process the horror that rolled through his body in a shockwave. He was thrown to the side as Thelonius smashed into his torso with a concrete paw and claws several inches long that dug into his paper skin, running along the ribs like fingers across a deathly piano. Knocked off his feet, the wind instantly left Wolf's lungs as he felt like he had been hit by a boulder and then again by the solid ground. Thelonius was on top of him in a split second, clamping onto one of Wolf's front legs and ripping messily to the bone with his dagger-like teeth.

Blood began to spurt out, staining the surrounding snow.

Wolf struggled to get free. He tried to fight back, but the bear had him pinned with one paw and helpless on the ground against the other. The bear's hot, heavy breath met his black and red fur with growls as Thelonius continued to maul him, burying into his side with teeth and claws that treated bone as no different than soft flesh. The searing pain and crunches of his own body breaking before him made Wolf want to howl in agony and scream for help, but all that came out were weak cries and utterances, his lungs too shattered to do anything useful.

Wolf didn't know how long it'd lasted. One minute or twenty— he couldn't tell. With the pain came a new perspective, and he imagined that this was how the hare had felt when he'd killed so brutally with no regard for what it was experiencing. In the blur of time, Wolf just knew that at some point he would end up like the hare did when it was at his mercy, and so he closed his eyes and accepted his fate, the throes of death seeming to stretch on forever into infinity. He didn't feel terribly regretful. Maybe he deserved this for everything he'd done.

The crunching and grating of bone against bone stopped eventually. Thelonius probably thought he was dead, thinking he'd finished the job when Wolf's eyes fell shut like rocks, because the mauling came to an end not long after. The growls and grunts were no more, and then the desolate forest came to a grinding halt of silence.

For a while, it seemed like Thelonius had left, but as another predator, Wolf knew that it wasn't uncommon in a fight between two carnivores for one to stick around after winning, so he kept his eyes closed and stayed down in case Thelonius was still in the area. Meanwhile, his entire body screamed at him in sheer agony. With what little strength he had left, Wolf bit his restless tongue which so badly wanted to cry out in pain. It was good that he did. Thelonius might not have intended to leave him on the brink of death and was just waiting around for the first sign of life to have another go at him.

Wolf laid there motionless for hours, trying to breath as little as possible. He didn't dare to peek even the slightest amount and could only hope that another predator didn't happen to come by and pick him off if Thelonius really was gone. Unlikely, since Thelonius's reputation was well known throughout the land, and not many would dare take a kill in his territory, even if the bear wasn't around to see it.

With another attack from Thelonius being the only thing on his mind, Wolf planned on waiting until it was nighttime before risking any movements. He hadn't bothered to try, so he didn't know if he was even still capable of getting up and standing, let alone walking, but judging from the pain, things were surely not going good for him beneath the neck. Wolf remembered that it had been midday the last time he saw the sun, so he used the brightness of the light on his eyelids to estimate the time that had passed since it had gotten quiet. He knew the sun was setting as the light was getting brighter—it was lowering from its midday position above him, shining more and more directly onto his eyelids until the light finally began to dim as it slipped below the horizon.

The moon was where the sun used to be when Wolf's eyes finally cracked open. Raising his head, he craned his neck to scan the area. Wolf didn't see Thelonius or anything else nearby, and it looked like a good time to make an escape, so he decided to take the chance. Gathering himself, he tried to prop his legs up and stand but pain instantly shot through every part of his limb and body like electricity. Wolf kept trying, but no matter how hard he did, his own muscles refused to listen to his commands, floundering and squirming hopelessly in the dirt and snow. Wolf let out a small whimper of despair, realizing he couldn't even shift around much. He had the grittiness and iron will of a loner to stand up if it was possible, but for the first time in his life, it seemed that an iron will alone wouldn't be enough to survive or even come close to saving him. The blood loss was simply too much. It had made him weak and his breathing labored.

Wolf rested his dismal head back into the snow, feeling winter's freezing tendrils wrap bitingly through his fur and around his skin. He didn't know how long he'd last out here, wounded and exposed to the elements, but it wouldn't mean anything if he couldn't move, as then, there was no hope and it was only a matter of time before he died. For better or worse, he had never been one to deny the truth, no matter how harsh it was to accept. Lying there on the ground, he could've taken all the time in the world to accept it, but he didn't have to. It was already done. Harsh realities were all Wolf had ever been confronted with in his life, and he was no stranger to their hard-hitting impact. Nature dispensed them freely like they were puzzle pieces to some kind of bigger and cruel joke that he just couldn't wrap his mind around. Even though he didn't understand his purpose in this world, Wolf wouldn't compromise and tell himself lies that things were going to be okay when he had no idea if they truly were going to be, not even on his deathbed. It was too late in the game for that. If his mentor had taught him anything, it was that the lone wolf never goes back, no matter the cost.

Wolf shut his eyes again. It was so cold at night that the blood outside his body had congealed into frozen masses. Soon, the pangs of pain running their course throughout his broken body had become too dull to keep the urge to fall asleep at bay and he couldn't rest with his eyes closed anymore, fearing he wouldn't wake up if he accidently went under. He would be damned if he wasn't conscious for his last few moments of life as he had always been curious about what it was like to die at the exact moment of death. Did you just slip away or was it like snuffing out an ember after a lightning strike?

Other thoughts traced the wolf's waning mind like his remorse. Overtime, he began to feel greater and greater guilt for the numerous occasions where he'd so mercilessly taken down prey using the only most brutal and efficient of methods. He didn't use those methods just because they were brutal, of course, but they happened to be easy and effective—that's why he liked them better than the other options which just made the hunt more inconvenient for him. In that old light, he had cared little for whether or not his prey died a quick and painless death. The only thing that mattered to him before now was whether or not he had secured the kill. Since he didn't have a pack and couldn't brute force a hunt without their support, Wolf remembered one particularly brutal method he'd devised to be able to perform alone where he would run down a deer by nipping at its ankles over long distances, slowly tearing away at the tendon and muscle, grinding its resolve into the dirt until it collapsed from sheer exhaustion, injuries, or both.

The ordeal could sometimes take hours.

Death by a thousand bites.

The idea sounded so terrible now thinking back on it. In the end, it seems, his current predicament had brought him some perspective for something he never knew he needed it on.

Wolf smiled weakly. Maybe death wasn't all bad. In fact, it felt enlightening now, and he was glad he was given the opportunity to appreciate that rather than just dying right away which he thought he was going to when the bear attacked him.

Wolf continued to lie there for a while by himself with only his thoughts, lonely history, and morbid philosophy to ruminate on—nothing pleasant, really, if he was being honest with himself. The day passed him by and then another did as well, both uneventful. Wolf knew that his immobilized condition wouldn't allow him to take care of the growing thirst on his tongue, but to stave off that uncomfortable feeling, he resorted to eating snow, stretching his neck out to eat what was within reach of his mouth. The snow chilled his throat, shocking the fading warmth of his body, but it was a good sensation as it gave himself something else to focus on other than the dull pain and frost in his bones. He had a bit longer now to savor his final hours which only grew fewer in number. Deep down, he knew that nothing in this world was meant to last, good things as well as bad things, but he wasn't sure whether to be happy or saddened by that realization.

Eventually, his mind began to grind to a halt, and he felt his focus start to dim like a dying fire. More and more days and nights past, and dehydration began to set in again, but this time, he could do nothing about it as the snow he could reach was all gone. The brain fog that rolled in softened his pain and discomfort somewhat, bringing with it a sweet relief and a great sleepiness to Wolf. Slowly but surely, he finally shut his eyes again and immersed himself in the ocean of blackness that was awaiting him.

Another weak smile traced Wolf's lips.

It seems he had answered his question.

In that moment, Wolf was so far gone that he didn't hear the soft crush of snow under someone's paws approaching from in the distance. He was too preoccupied with the emptiness that he was about to let devour him that it was only when their form blocked out the sun on his eyelids that he cracked them open to see why.

Was he at long last dead? He saw an angel. A beautiful red fox standing over him like a beacon of hope. But then the happiness in Wolf's soul was quickly replaced with a harsh reality check. The surprise on the fox's face told him that she'd thought he had been dead, and her eyes—a delightful orange—showed it even more when they met his own for a brief but tantalizing moment of silence. Neither spoke until Wolf decided to.

Wolf smacked his parched tongue, trying to get the words to flow off it properly. "A-are you an angel here to take me home or... a predator that's come to put me down?" he murmured weakly, grinning toothily as best as he could.

"You're still alive..." she said back in disbelief. Her eyes traced his expression. Though solemn and dignified, the fox was fascinated by this wolf's facetious attitude in the face of death and decided to entertain a pitiful conversation in light of his grin. She found a little charm in it, however morbid that was. "How can you smile in your condition?"

"Because..." he said. "Either way, I win... So... Which is it?"

"I don't consider myself to be an angel."

Wolf didn't bother to move his head to face her, only his eyes as that's all he really had the energy for. "Well, you certainly qualify... If you aren't an angel... what are you then?"

The fox averted her gaze in consideration of his question. "A scavenger, I suppose. I thought you were already dead."

Wolf tried to talk in spite of his labored breathing. "I see... That's unusual... for a fox..." he struggled to say. "You only eat animals that are already dead?"

"Yes," she said, sitting down next to him. "I try to..."

Wolf's eyes fluttered. "How merciful of you..." he said in a low voice. "Are you sure you're not an angel? That's not something you hear everyday from a... carnivore. It's a wonder you haven't starved yet."

"I may be a carnivore, but I'm not a beast," she said.

"Heh... I wish I could say the same..." Wolf remarked with guilt. He strained to speak. "The concept had never even crossed my mind until a few days ago... when I ended up like this. It's funny, really... My sins are... probably what have led me here to this point... I've brutalized so many in my lifetime that I can't even count anymore... It's fitting that I'm here now—on the ground—suffering... Tell me... do you believe in karma?"

"I don't usually talk to the animals I'm going to eat," she said curtly.

Her rudeness caused Wolf to work up a chuckle. "Just share a... few words with me..." he struggled to say.

The fox didn't say anything, but Wolf took her silence and stare as a fortunate yes.

"Well... as for myself, I don't believe in karma..." Wolf continued, "but I can find no other explanation for my current predicament..."

"Perhaps there isn't one. Animals live and animals die. That's probably all there is to nature."

Wolf grinned again with that morbid, happy-go-lucky smile of his. "I'll be frank, that wouldn't have been the best thing to say to any other dying animal, but you're speaking to me, and that's the most honest thing I've ever heard... There's something to be said about that... I'm not sure if you'll understand where I'm coming from... but the truth is... comforting in a way..."

The fox nodded gently, meeting his eyes with curious intent. There was that dumb, cheeky grin again and she wasn't sure how to feel about his unordinary reactions to things. "I understand," she made sure to say quietly. She felt as though he would die if she spoke any louder.

"It's amazing how much you can tell from so little about someone. I already see that you've got some sense in you..." A look of mesmerization washed over Wolf's face but that quickly dissipated as his attention returned to the matter at hand. "Well, I'm sure you're hungry..." he said, urging her to get on with it.

"I'll stick around and wait until you die."

Wolf's face softened in confusion. "You mean you're really not going to kill me?"

"Not if I can avoid it..." the fox said. "I'd rather not get my mouth dirty." Truthfully, if she was being honest with herself, that wasn't the actual reason. She just wasn't sure about what to do with the wolf and debated was debating on whether or not to kill him in the first place.

"I take it you mean figuratively."

The fox rolled her eyes. "Yes, you know what I meant."

"You're right, I did, but you might not have a choice."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Trust me..." Wolf said. "It's better if you just kill me now and eat me right away. Thelonius... the bear that lives around here... he's the one that did this to me, and this is his territory, so wait at your own risk. He's not too fond of trespassers."

"I know who lives here, and I'll take my chances," she said. "I've been mooching off him for quite a while."

"You too, huh? Sounds like you know what you're doing, but the funny thing is I thought that as well..." Wolf paused, and then a gloomy flicker of appreciation came across his face. "By the way, even though I'm gonna end up being your meal, thanks for taking the time to speak to me. I don't get to talk to many animals..."

"I can see that. The first thing I noticed was that you don't have a pack protecting you."

"Story of my life... It has its perks if you look hard enough, believe it or not, but right now, it doesn't seem to be such a good thing..." Thick with langour, Wolf's eyelids dipped heavily as his weary gaze touched upon the fox from beneath them. "I'm so tired..." he said in a feeble murmur. "I've been fighting the urge to fall asleep for a while—it's almost unbearable—but since you're here, I think I'm just going to relax and think about something nice..."

And with that, Wolf shut his eyes again.

The fox snorted, staying close by but retreating away from Wolf. Once she had found a suitable spot to wait for her food to die, she patted down the snow before before curling up into a ball on the ground. In the silence, she found it harder waiting for him to die than she'd initially thought it would be—this was the first time she had ever come across an animal that was still alive. Though her ears were ever alert for other things like the sound of an approaching bear, the wolf's noisy, straining breaths were the only thing she could really focus on. Her eyes would crease in pain from time to time with the occasional croakiness he gave out, although none of them would prove to be a sign of his death as the day came to a close. She began to notice that he would keep smacking his tongue to try and moisten his mouth, but without water, she knew it wasn't going to work. His extreme discomfort was painfully obvious, no matter how well he was able to hide it, and it was enough to make her reconsider things. Part of her was hungry and wanted to eat, but somewhere within her confused heart, another felt sorry for the poor wolf. She could see it in his eyes and from the way he spoke that the path he'd walked had not been easy. It didn't seem right that this was going to be the final and terrible conclusion to his life.

Before she could stop herself, she had already rose to her feet and ambled over to him again. The pained expression on his face cemented her position there. She couldn't stand the sight of him.

Looking down in concern, the fox spoke softly. "You're thirsty..." she remarked.

Wolf's eyes were sluggish to open. "What?" he said groggily. His eyes fell upon the fox again, and he turned puzzled. It was clear that she wanted something from him.

"Open your mouth," she commanded.

Wolf blinked, pausing to decipher her gaze.

Wolf wasn't sure why she was asking him to do that—maybe the brain fog had eroded his intelligence more than he thought it did and he was just being stupid—but it was obvious to her that he didn't understand the reason, so she picked up a clump of snow in her mouth and hovered over him. He got the message and opened wide. Gently, she deposited the snow inbetween his lips. Wolf was a little surprised that she was helping him, but then he began to chew, and he chewed slowly for a while as she watched until he finally swallowed when the snow melted and was easy to get down.

"Oh..." Wolf exhaled in relief. "That's real nice of you... I feel like a baby bird."

"More?" she asked.

"If you wouldn't mind," Wolf said, unable to stifle a slight smile. He wanted to make a stupid joke but now probably wasn't the time to be turning away any potential allies.

The fox continued to provide him with snow. After a few mouthfuls, Wolf felt his thirst had been adequately quenched.

"Thank you... I feel a lot better now," Wolf said.

The fox looked over her shoulder. Daylight still filled the forest, but the sun was beginning to set. The evening would soon be over. "Dusk is falling," she said as she turned around to leave. "Wait here."

An amused Wolf felt a tingle a humor zap him like a lightning bolt. "You say that like I can actually go anywhere."

Wolf watched as she left, taking note of her particularly lavish orange tail from the view he had. He was given plenty of time to mull over what she'd done for him as the fox didn't return until the last rays of sunshine were peeking over the horizon. When she did, she had a lifeless snow hare in her mouth and she set it down in front of him.

"Is this for me?" Wolf asked.

The fox began to dig into the animal, tearing into its flesh. "It's for both of us—I'm hungry too."

She swallowed the meat, eating a few more pieces before she noticed that Wolf wasn't eating along with her. She remembered that he couldn't really move, and he didn't seem like he wanted to say anything about it—probably the prideful sort—so she tore off a piece for him and dropped it at the tip of his mouth.

"Thanks..." Wolf said.

They ate like that for the rest of the evening, the hungry fox taking a few pieces and then giving some to the starving wolf. Neither one of them said a single word, and if not for the blistering cold that reminded them that they were eating in the middle of a hellscape, it was almost peaceful.

Soon, their meal was over. When the hare had finally been picked clean, the fox washed her mouth in the snow, rinsing it clean before wordlessly returning to Wolf. She hovered over his torso and leaned down. Wolf's eyes widened when he felt something soft and wet start running over his wounds.

Wolf's voice hesitated. He couldn't believe what he was sensing, thinking it was a hallucination of some sort from all the blood he'd lost. "A-Are you licking my wounds?" he managed to utter.

"If I don't, they're going to get infected." The fox spoke solemnly as though it was just business.

Wolf winced in pain. Even something as gentle and soft as a tongue was able to hurt him if it just touched the right spot. Was he really so weak as to be helpless like this?

"Hope you enjoy the taste of my blood," Wolf said in a dry tone. "Under different circumstances, I would find these licks more pleasurable."

"I'm sure you would," she said plainly.

Wolf paused. In that moment, he couldn't help but wonder something he should've thought about before. With all of his energy, he picked his head up and looked back at her as she tended to him. "You're helping me..." he said. "Why? You don't even know me and I've done nothing for you."

"You asked me earlier if I believe in karma..." the fox said, her pensive gaze averting to the ground. "I do..." she nodded.

Wolf drew in a long breath, taking a brief moment to absorb her expression. "You haven't told me your name."

"It's Vesper..." she said with a sideways glance.

Wolf smiled. "Valenos..."

o - o - o - o - o

"Wow..." Sozin said heavily. "You don't pull any punches when you tell stories, do you? Do you know what happened to the fox?"

Disappointment weaved its way through Wolf's words. "Nope... No idea... I never saw her again after that, but I still remember her name though," he said quietly. "It was Vesper... That fox was one of the few to ever show me hospitality in my life. She nursed me back to health and then we parted ways after, as lone animals typically do. I payed her kindness forward by changing how I hunted from that season forth."

"That's quite the tale," Sozin remarked. His eyes flickered to the hare cooking over the sputtering flames of the campfire they were huddled around. Wolf had killed it quickly and painlessly with a chomp to the neck. "I can't believe you survived an attack from a whole bear."

"Guess I'm a tough bastard to kill," Wolf laughed. "But it changed me. Now I only hunt to survive and I avoid killing more than I have to just for personal pleasure—to gorge myself. I'm a carnivore though, so I still have to eat meat. I'm forced to... I know it's not my fault, but some part of just can't help but hate what I am."

"Yeah, I hate myself too. Wanna cope together?" Sozin smiled lightly in a way that was almost too perfect for this world.

Grinning back, Wolf said, "Ah, well... That's all we can do, huh?"


	9. Man in the Shadows

For the rest of that cold and bitter season, Sozin remained in the wilderness to keep a low profile and stay off the Ministry's radar. In that period, he had little time to spare for anything other than hunting to sustain himself, but when he did have a few extra moments, he dedicated himself to mastering the forbidden technique in Danzo's scroll. Figuring it out was a slow process as hunger was always the main thing on his mind. Several times, the scarceness of winter brought him to the brink of starvation, nearly resulting in his death and forcing him to head into town to get food.

The town wasn't much better than the wilderness was, but it was a start. Some of the heat from his father's death had died down so things weren't too dangerous despite what the wanted posters with his face on them seemed to indicate. Of course, he still had to be careful with who saw his face and that was only one of his problems as he had no money, and nobody would grant charity upon him, a grown man who was no longer a boy now and one that people didn't know nor care about either. Well, at least not until they recognized him from the posters pushing a large bounty for his head. It was funny to him how they cared only then when his presence would benefit them in some selfish way. Otherwise, he was nothing more than another common street rat running amok in the grime of the homeless.

Everything now was a far cry from the lavish comfort of a wealthy family that Sozin had grown up with and become accustomed to, but it wasn't like he didn't know the world could be harsh anyway. As much as he tried to stay incognito, it was always inevitable at some point for someone to recognize him after he had been begging in one place for a while, so he would relocate to a different town at that point to avoid the Ministry agents that would come to investigate the reports. That was his life for a while, just moving endlessly from one town to the next, from one paltry meal to another not sure whether he would make it this time with all the pain in his stomach that only seemed to grow ever louder.

It became too much to bear the sight of his own body. When he had grown gaunt and haggard, his own ribs peeking out through the withered muscle, that was when Sozin decided he'd had enough. If society was not going to take care of him in any sort of way, not even grant him meager scraps of charity so that he could at the very least survive to see another harsh night sleeping on the ground with the vermin, then why should he grant it the benefit of being a good citizen? Why should he contribute at all to a system that treats its lowest members as though they were garbage meant to be disposed of? And so then he found himself beginning to steal, using his skills as a shinobi to acquire that which no one would provide him with. First it was only the necessities, small things like a little food here or a little money there to get his strength up, but then he began to steal jewelry and other valuables and sell them for the highest bidder.

Eventually, someone saw his potential when he was haggling one night in an alleyway. One thing led to another and he got into the criminal business as a service for hire.

Organized crime was a lot different from the ragtag operation he had been running before. As it turns out, a good shinobi made for a good thief, and people in the underworld coveted for the kind of illicit services Sozin could provide. Considering the circumstances, it felt good to steal and then get paid so handsomely for it, like he was the hero of his own story providing for himself, and so he kept doing it. The rush of blood had to be the greatest part, and it was a different one from the kind he experienced in battle—a more subdued sense of heightening that Sozin imagined a mouse trying to get a piece of cheese while avoiding the cat would feel.

Stealing was an obviously illegal decision as was working with lawbreakers, but it was a sensical one to continue making since his status as a fugitive meant that no normal jobs were available to him nor had he been taught how to make a living with any other craft regardless. That meant crime was the only way to take care of himself—a fair justification, he thought— as he would be damned if he was going to let himself rot on the cold ground of the streets like so many often did, like he had, disregarded and then left there to waste away and die so blatantly by society. Unlike all the tales he had read as a child, Sozin was sure to remember that no one was going to just show up and be there for him, so he would have to be there for himself. With no other alternative available, from that point forward and for the very first time, he had entered his new life of crime and sinnery as an enemy of the state.

Throughout the whole ordeal, Sozin couldn't help but relate to Wolf, finding solace in the spirit animal he now considered a true brother and his only friend. The feeling of starvation—the lack of control, the way it had gripped him and wanted to turn him into an impulsive beast from the inside out—it was a unique feeling all its own that he hated experiencing, but Wolf had been there to guide him every step of the way and helped him to survive its difficulties along with many others. As someone who'd never gone without food before, Sozin had never experienced that sensation, but Wolf had, and he understood completely what Sozin was going through.

Wolf was the only one Sozin could truly rely on for the most part. Tainted by his hardships, he learned to hate the fortunate, those who almost always made up the entirety of everybody else and had failed to show even the slightest hint of mercy upon his starving soul. The few times Sozin had received help it was always from those who were suffering just like him and could understand his struggles. Other homeless. Other unfortunates. They would share a few morsels of food with him whenever they could spare. That burning lesson stuck with Sozin in a place he would never be able to dislodge it from. Generosity then did not seem to come from the good of people's hearts as much as it did the fact that they understood your struggles and could relate to them. He made sure to return and repay his debts to those who had helped him when he started making money in the underworld and had staved off his own destitution. He helped them to get back on their feet. As Wolf had instilled into him, the rule of thumb was always to amplify anything given whether it was good or bad. He called it the amplification rule: if they wronged you, hit them back even harder and make sure they regret it, but if they did right by you, pay them back even more and make sure they remember it. For better or worse, the principle went both ways, but Sozin thought it was good rule and lived by it religiously.

With his debts repayed and some money coming in, Sozin was finally able to get himself into a better place than he was before. He started to make a name for himself in the underworld, offering his services as a rogue, freelance shinobi—a lone shadow. At first, he didn't even have much of a name as very few were willing to give his skillset a chance. He was a small fry, only getting easy, lower-level jobs where petty thievery, eavesdropping, and spying were the most common requests. He even delivered mail sometimes, acting as discreet and fast speed service for regular or illicit packages. Those jobs didn't pay too well, but as his reputation grew, so did the types of jobs, their stakes, and the money that came with them. Over the course of a few years, he would go on to become known as the Lone Wolf.

_Lone Shadow Lone Wolf._

Once it was common knowledge that Sozin was offering a reliable service, people began asking him for the more dangerous and darker things like assassinations and kidnappings. Sozin never forgot about the jobs he started with though. Sometimes he still took them when he wanted an easy payday or just didn't feel like hurting someone; surprisingly, they actually payed a decent amount of money if you took them at a high enough level. Still, any money really worth living on was only to be made with the more serious assignments where he usually would have to get violent.

In spite of his dishonest profession, Sozin still had some semblance of a moral compass. Unless he was in dire need of cash, he tried to stick with jobs where the degenerates of society, mostly other criminals or crime lords, were the victims. He slept good at night knowing they suffered. There were a lot of risky assigments too, and that was a bit of an issue—or just another part of the fun depending on how you looked at it—but that never stopped Sozin as long as the pay was good enough to make it worth his while, and it could be, indeed.

But with all the money he was making now, he was still just one man and a lonely one at that. An empty heart was never far from doing the devil's work. All that money quickly began to pile up until he started to gamble it away in the underground. At the time, it had seemed like such a good choice. Every hit of dopamine he received whenever he happened to win always seemed to make up for the fact that he had lost so much in the end. In retrospect, it was no surprise to him then that he was soon short on money, in debt, and was going to have to take on exactly the sort of well-paying job he normally wouldn't touch simply due to the dangerous nature of it.

During one slow week on a spring morning, a courier who looked like he had done too much running delivered a letter to Sozin enclosed with a light blue stamp that had the gold outline of a dragon on it. Sozin recognized the stamp as the insignia of the Hirata clan—one of numerous families throughout Ishida that were shrouded in crime.

Someone had a job for him. Burning with curiosity, Sozin tore off the sticker and opened the letter to see what they wanted.

_Lone Shadow Lone Wolf,_ it began. _Your reputation is known to us. We are in need of your services to capture someone of great importance to our clan. This matter must be attended to immediately lest we pass our window of time to act. Rest assured, the price is of no concern in obtaining your immediate assistance. If these terms are agreeable to you, make for Hirata Estate as soon as possible and consult with me in my palace where we can discuss your task and your payment more in depth._

The letter ended there with an elaborate signature from the head of the family, Talro Hirata.

The Hiratas were also one of the more wealthy families in Ishida. Apparently, they had an urgent matter that needed to be taken care of right away. Fortunately for Talro, Sozin had been on the lookout for work and desperately so to pay off his debt. He couldn't believe he had been so stupid as to gamble. Even if he was desperate, that didn't mean Sozin had to like what he was going to undertake. Unlike other jobs where he had free reign to use deadly force, a catch and bag assignment put restrictions on how hard he could fight in battle, making the whole thing less safe for him. It was for that reason that he rarely took this kind of work. Sozin would've preferred something else, but considering the dustiness of his coin purse, he wasn't really in any position to be picky. He started for the estate as soon as he'd gotten the message. As long as he played things safe, he should be fine.

When he finally got to Hirata Estate a few hours later, Sozin made his way through the bustling hamlet that accompanied the palace. It was where the rest of the lower-ranking family lived. The palace itself rested atop a shallow hill while the hamlet was beneath it—an interesting choice of positioning. No doubt the residents of the palace were exalted and full of themselves. It reminded Sozin a lot of Wakota and his own former home, though the hamlet was much smaller than Wakota was and the palace much bigger than the Daihachi residence.

Aside from elders and youngsters, there weren't too many men to be seen as he walked down the streets. These days, any young and able man who couldn't bribe the government had been forced into military service to fight for the country since they were losing the war so badly. Sozin considered himself lucky that he had enough to money to keep any naysayers from the government off his case if they came knocking, and his face had matured enough that they couldn't recognize him from the wanted posters that were still floating around. He much preferred it if he didn't become a pawn taking part in the wargames aristocracy liked to play with each other at the expense of the general populace. He had immense respect for the men who wanted to and did serve their country, or at least thought they were doing so, but service wasn't all it was cut out to be.

Despite coming from aristocracy himself, Sozin held little regard for such people as the common man was nothing more than a statistic to exploit to them in the grand scheme of things. It was a terrible philosophy: privatize the gains and socialize the losses everywhere he looked. Not too long ago, he had been less than a common man—nothing more than a street rat looking for a way out. He would be a fool to support the privileged class, knowing all too well how quickly you can be thrown out of it and cast aside for people to walk on you. Even average men had looked down upon him then.

Sozin shook his head. It was probably better if he didn't dwell on the past. He had other matters to attend to anyway. He had reached the palace.

Sozin made his way up stairs carved from stone towards a pair of samurai guards standing at the front gate to the palace's inner perimeter. They wore no armor, only a set of light blue robes.

"You there! You don't look like one of the family! State your business here," one of the guards said curtly as the dark stranger approached.

Calm and with a face like stone, Sozin glanced at the other guard before returning his gaze to the one that spoke. "My name is Lone Shadow Lone Wolf," he said in a low voice. "I was summoned here for some business."

"Oh, you're the shinobi Lord Talro has been expecting!" the guard said in surprise. "My apologies, he's waiting for you in the main hall."

The two guards opened the gate and let Sozin pass. Through the courtyard and past a set of large double doors came the main hall, a lofty and grand room for entertaining guests. A lengthy dining table stretched across the entire depth of it, garnished with ornate tableware and long, flickering candles lining the middle. Tracing his eyes all the way up to the far side of the table, it stopped near the end of the hall at a small set of steps leading to a raised area. There, Lord Talro and his two associates sat chattering upon opulent floor pillows.

Though he was in the distance, Sozin could hear them talking about politics from all the way at the end of the hall. Wolf's spirit afforded him with an unnaturally keen sense of hearing that he could magnify by cupping his ear, but it wasn't necessary in such an open space. It was great for eavesdropping and had come in handy many times.

Talro and his two associates stopped talking. They turned when they realized they were now in the company of a young man with an unusually dark presence, his brows eternally furrowed.

Talro himself, a bony and wizened old man with a long, grey goatee, looked Sozin up and down from beneath his bald head. He stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Ah... So you are the one I sent for. I'm impressed, shinobi, and pleased to see that you got here as fast as you did."

"You must be Lord Talro," Sozin murmured, softspoken but with a raspy voice that seemed to come from his throat. He could see the old man's ribs highlighted against his chest from the gap in his robes. He wasn't starving, but it was clear that old age hadn't been treating him well. "I received your message."

"So it seems," Talro said. "Your reputation precedes you. Are you as professional as they say?"

"I believe my clients would say so," Sozin said. "Since you've summoned me Lord Talro, I must tell you... For the right price, my services can be at your full disposal, and they do not come cheap."

Talro chuckled. "Ah, yes, money... Straight to the point, I see... Indeed, that is all that interests your type, and do hear this: our clan has much of that to go around. Well, I don't want to waste your time nor mine either as this matter must be resolved before it is too late. It should fall well within your domain."

"What is it exactly that you want me to do?" Sozin asked. "In your letter, you mentioned that you needed me to capture someone."

"Yes, yes," Talro said, clasping his hands together. "That's exactly it. There's a certain woman that my son, Takeda," Talro gestured to the man sitting down on his right, "is having issues with. Her name is Kira Tomoe. Kira's supposed to be a new concubine of his, but she's been a bit relucant to cooperate with us. Not too long ago, we managed to bring her into our family's fold, however, she ran off last night before my son could do anything with her. The guards tried to pursue, but—unfortunately—she got away and now we have no idea where she is anymore. I'm certain she couldn't have gone far, but I fear she'll escape beyond our reach if given any more time to do so." Talro pulled out a piece of parchment from his robe and held it out for Sozin who promptly took it. "Here's a picture of what she looks like."

Looking down, the drawing on the parchment immediately caught Sozin's eyes. A face sketch had been done of a beautiful woman in her early 20s with orange eyes and black hair. Her elegant looks exuded an air of regality like no other he had seen before.

"Don't let her beauty fool you," Talro continued. "She's a highly skilled swordmaster and likely won't come quietly. You can imagine how something like that might present an obstacle to her retrieval."

Sozin glanced up from the parchment. "I understand. I'm assuming this is where I come in?"

"Yes," Talro's son, Takeda, said, chiming into the conversation. "That insubordinate woman," he sneered. "I want you to find her and bring her back to us alive and as unharmed as possible. The last part is very important to me as I will be the one to punish her."

"Name your price," Talro added. "As I've made clear, it is of no concern to the Hirata clan."

"Hm," Sozin grunted in consideration. He crossed his arms, thinking for a second. If he secured a big reward out of this job, then he'd be able to pay off his debt without having to worry about finding additional work. "For a job like this, I want twenty-five thousand sen to make it worth my time and the risk. Nothing less."

Talro steepled his fingers. "Fair enough. Twenty-five thousand sen it shall be for her capture. For that amount of money, do ensure that you abide by the conditions of the deal. As my son has asked of you, no harm must come to Kira."

Sozin stuffed the sketch of Kira into one of his pockets. "I assure you," he said, his eyes narrowing in solemn confidence. "I will have this matter taken care of properly. But before I go, I'm going to need one more thing to help me get the job done."

"Oh?" Talro said. "And what would that be?"

Sozin smirked in dark satisfaction. There was a hint of humor in there somewhere. "Give me the last piece of clothing she wore."

Well, they certainly didn't expect to hear anything like that in a million years, judging by the surprise on Talro and his son's face. Sozin and Wolf both laughed about it after the fact. Talro didn't quite understand how that would come in handy, but despite his son's suspicious and somewhat outraged, bushy eyebrows, he obliged Sozin's request anyway in recognition of his reputation as a professional.

Once he'd gotten his hands on the garment—a blue kimono—Sozin messily ripped away a fistful of cloth, stashed it into one of the pockets sewn onto the underside of his striped cape, and then they were off immediately.

It would take some work, but Sozin thought he could track the woman down fairly quickly if he just covered ground fast enough and used a little ingenuity in his search. He had to go based off some assumptions since he didn't have much information to work with in the first place. He knew that she'd already made her escape from the estate. She probably thought they'd given up looking for her. And maybe she even thought she was in the clear, thinking nobody had any clues as to her whereabouts. However, Sozin wasn't entirely in the dark. If she was travelling on foot, he knew she couldn't have gone far as there was only so much ground you could cover in one day, and that's if you dedicated your entire day to running. That's all the information he needed to limit his area of search to a reasonable and manageable size given the time constraint.

As an lithe and athletic man with the wolf spirit, Sozin was afforded greater stamina than most people. He would be able to run from settlement to settlement quite easily—certainly covering more ground than his target probably could, with or without Wolf taking over and switching into animal form. Not only that, but he also had a picture of her which was probably his most valuable asset for completing this job. Since Kira was an attractive woman, people are sure to have noticed her walking through any area she's been in. By asking around and showing the locals her sketch, he could use that fact to narrow down where she's been and her general location, and then use that information in combination with her scent from the scrap of clothing he asked for to figure out exactly where she is. He had to work fast though. More than a few days of her shuffling around, and she would likely be long gone and nearly impossible to find at that point. It was a race against time to see who was the better competitor—the hunter or the hunted?

All he had to do was find her. That was the hard part. Once he found her, he could take things a lot slower since he had the advantage of surprise on his side. He didn't know for sure, but she probably wasn't expecting for Talro to send a shinobi after her—maybe a bounty hunter or something of that sort, if anything at all—so there was no rush. As long as he played his cards right, Sozin could simply perform a takedown when she wasn't looking and he wouldn't have to fight her in direct combat at all.

"Damn, I couldn't have said it better myself," Wolf said from the spirit realm. "I can tell you're already starting to think like a true wolf now. You have my confidence that this going to work."

"Thanks, Wolf." Sozin smiled as he ran along a road that cut through the forest.

"Hey, after you get payed, let's go grab a nice steak from the butcher to celebrate!" Wolf declared in rowdy happiness. "I take back what I said earlier about human food. Cooked is actually starting to grow on my stomach—the meat's got a nice, charcoally flavor now that I think about it."

Sozin shook his head as his smile widened into a grin. "Sure, Wolf. Anything for my big brother."

"Hell yeah!" Wolf rumbled. "That's what I like to hear!"

Morale was high, and the two bickered throughout the journey as brothers often did. In his time around Ikijo, Sozin had come to realize that family could be more than blood, but around Wolf, it had become clear that the boundaries of family could transcend even beyond being the same species. Connections were connections regardless of who or what they formed between.

It took the whole day but they were getting there. Sozin seemed to be on the right track as he went from village to village inquiring about Kira. Some of the villages had, in fact, seen her passing through. Marking the positions of the villages where she was spotted on a map, Sozin realized that there was distinct pattern. She was heading north across the country, and by extrapolating, he had a good idea of where she would be stopping next.

His estimations brought him to the the darkened woods outside of an Ishidan village. He was on the outskirts and slinking along a lonely dirt path that led right into it. The soft pitter-patter of rain falling onto leaves filled the forest as it ran down the back of the black hood that covered his head along with a set of facial wraps masking the face. Hours had come and passed since he'd embarked on this mission, and now the land was obscured in shadows that would work well in his favor. Hopefully, his target was asleep by now as he'd easily be able to get the drop on her in her slumber. He just had to locate her. Taking a whiff of her clothing and then smelling the air, without a doubt, he knew she was definitely here.

As he crossed into the village, Sozin took off his facial wraps to avoid arousing any suspicion but kept the hood for blocking out the rain. He made sure to keep a low profile, slipping through the various alleys and corners of the village. Every now and then he would smell the cloth again in an attempt to triangulate Kira's position.

With all the running he'd done to get here, the ninja's socks and lower hakama were muddied to the ankle, and the mushiness of the dirt made his waraji print into the ground with each step. He was surprised to see that people were still out at this time in the rain, even if it wasn't coming down all that hard. Many simply went about their evening like normal, having put on straw hats or using umbrellas as they conducted their last-minute business in the closing markets. Sozin didn't find that to be particularly unusual—country folk seemed to be more cut out to deal with unpleasantries of nature than city folk were. They weren't going to let something as small as a little rain stop their life. That was good for him because the traffic meant it was easier to blend in amongst all the commotion. As far as anyone else was concerned, he was simply another nameless warrior passing through the area—a wayfarer.

Noise filled the air and Sozin picked his head up.

Glancing off to the side, Sozin could hear the clamorous chit chat of a carousing saloon all the way from the middle of the muddy street. Strays of orange light peered out past the saloon's swinging double doors and into the shadowed road that winded through the village. Sozin stuck his hands in his pockets, looked away, and kept walking, not wanting any part of the disorganized and uncultured mess that bars could be, but then he stopped in his tracks. Just as he walked past, the orange light illuminating his expression, he caught whiff of something and his eyes lit up.

Right then, the woman's scent had gotten noticeably stronger.

Sozin turned his head and sniffed again to make certain he hadn't been sensing things that weren't there. Sure enough, the source of the smell seemed to be coming from inside the saloon, mixing in with that of many other patrons in the building.

"Mmmm," Wolf grumbled as he eyed his spirit user. "Cast any doubt from your mind. If a hunter can rely on anything, it is usually his senses. Go in..."

Sozin nodded. "Yeah, I think we should. The smell is very strong from here."

Lowering his hood, Sozin drifted through the doors and into the noisy establishment. His entrance turned a few curious heads from their drinks and poker cards as he was obviously not a regular here, but they all quickly went back to what they were doing. From what he could see, the saloon was crowded to the brim with nefarious-looking characters and general riff raff that happened to not be out polluting the streets at this time—certainly not the kind of people Sozin would ever consider associating with outside of work. Perhaps the rain had gathered all their tattooed bodies here for a boisterous indoor occasion, but this saloon in particular seemed to be a hotspot for the warrior-type anyway as all the patrons possessed armament. There were mostly swords floating around, but also a few matchlocks too which his perceptive eye took careful note of. Out of everything that there was to see, what he couldn't help but notice the most was the only woman in the establishment sitting at the front of the bar on a stool behind the counter.

"There she is. That's gotta be her," Sozin said inwardly to Wolf.

She was sitting by herself, a few seats away from all the other patrons. From where he was standing at the door, Sozin couldn't quite see her face and confirm her identity. With some money from the small purse strung across his torso, he ambled up to the front, planted a few coins onto the counter for a bottle of cheap sake, and took a seat at an empty table on the far side of the bar. During the whole process, he was fairly close to the woman, but he didn't dare glance at her once until he sat down, fearing that she would notice him and draw unwanted attention.

Sozin cast the bottle on his table a hesitant look. As a fairly disciplined man, monk, and ninja with no vices besides that bad gambling stint that had gotten him into this mess in the first place—a genuine slip-up if he was being on honest with himself—and senses that he preferred to keep, Sozin didn't want to drink and never drank in his free-time, but right now, he needed to blend in with the rabble, so he pretended to take a few sips of his sake every now and then to look convincing. From where he sat currently, he was able to get a good side view of the woman. She was a little different to see in person, but it was clearly her. She was more real in a way. Like the sketch, however realistic it was, couldn't do her beauty true justice like seeing it in person would. Vaguely, Sozin registered this within the back of his mind, but his cold face didn't flinch at all in recognition of that fact as he stole a few discreet glances to monitor what she was doing.

A pair of geta sandals adorned the woman's feet. Her traditional kasa hat, squared off into a downwards brim at the fringes, sat next to her on the countertop. A rather modest woman, she was dressed in loose-fitting black robes with red highlights on the edges where both sides of the garment overlapped over her chest. The woman indeed had an elegantly sharp face, regal as though she was born specifically to be royalty, and possessed lazy, half-lidded eyes that were a warm orange like the sunset. Sozin had no idea what someone like her was doing in an establishment like this as she stood out like a sore thumb. She didn't seem to care though. She sat there smoking a thin, red pipe that was propped between full lips, occasionally downing shots of alcohol like they were nothing. Framing her lazy and mellow expression, dark hair rolled down to just below her shoulders—a deep, defined black as though each strand had been carefully dipped in ink a thousand times over.

It was then that it hit him. The primal part in the back of every man's mind, the one that Wolf had always told him to be in control of and be better than, was telling Sozin to get a closer look as his eyes lingered on her face.

As another male, Wolf quickly noticed Sozin's unrelenting gaze. He could recognize it anywhere, and he decided to speak up before they were compromised. "Hey, asshole! Are you stupid? Stop thinking with your fucking dick!" he admonished into Sozin's ear.

"What?" Sozin uttered in confusion. He instantly realized and snapped out of it. "Oh, oops," he chuckled inwardly, tearing his eyes off of her. "Sorry..."

"You know, if you keep staring like that, you're going to give yourself away."

Sozin scratched the back of his neck. "Right... My bad..."

"Eh, don't sweat it, bro—just be careful. You're a young guy. It's just instinct," Wolf said. "The second look is the one you really gotta worry about cause that's the one you have control over. It's a good thing we're in a corner of the bar because she would've seen you just now."

Sozin took in a deep breath, feeling a little ashamed that he let himself get so far out of reach like that, even if it was just for a moment. "Yeah, I know... Thanks for that, Wolf."

"No problem, brother," Wolf said, passing Sozin a reassuring nod. "I've got your back, but I'll still get you if you do it a second time. I'm not a human so I can't really tell, but I'm guessin' she's pretty?"

Sozin's eyes flickered to the corners as he thought about it for a split second. "Maybe a little," he laughed.

Remaining serious, Wolf caught Sozin's eyes with his own cautionary ones. "You're the lone wolf, not the social wolf. Remember that shit."

As someone who would like to think he's disciplined person, Sozin was sure to shut those risky feelings down right then and there. When he was doing his job, he was always a professional first and a man second. Always. As he should be.

Having managed to not become totally distracted, Sozin glanced to the two katana on one side of the woman's hip. At the sight of them, his eyes flared in dismay. She was a dual-wielder by the looks of it and that didn't bode well for him. He definitely needed to avoid her in direct combat then since swordsmanship was his weak spot. He wasn't a bad swordsman but not particularly good one either, and compared to all of his other skills, it was one of the most unrefined of the bunch.

Sozin had to admit that he was somewhat impressed by seeing the pair of blades. Dual-wielders were an uncommon sight, and the fact that she had two swords on her person demonstrated a remarkable level of raw skill on her part. To be able to wield two blades at once and do so effectively required an incredible presence of mind and coordination between both sides of the body. Sozin knew little about the specifics of the training such warriors underwent, but he did know that to master two blades, it could not be done without the mastery of a single one first. Thinking back to the conversation him and Talro had, Talro did mention that she was a swordmaster, but it seems he forgot to mention this part specifically. It did beg the question somewhat. How did someone like her even end up as a concubine?

"I'd rather not attack her here in public with so many people around," Sozin said to Wolf. "She seems skilled, and someone's bound to come to her aid, so I'm going to wait until she leaves."

"Smart play," Wolf approved. "Even if it takes a while, you mustn't grow reckless. As I've told you before, the truest measure of a great hunter is not in his skill but in his patience. You can have all the skill in the world, but it won't mean anything if you can't wait for the right moment to use it."

Sozin's eyes narrowed. "She looks like an alcoholic. If I'm lucky, maybe she'll drink herself into stupor, and then I'll be able to restrain her pretty easily once she goes."

"Even better. Let's hope she's dumb enough to do that."

And so they waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

But outside of the occasional harassment of a lecherous man, the woman just enjoyed her drink for the most part. She kept on drinking to her hearts content like she was some kind of fish. One bottle after the next, she ordered by herself and they all came and went. Sozin crossed his arms in indignation. He couldn't believe how many shots she'd practically inhaled without showing even the slightest signs of intoxication. Certainly more than he could ever down in one night without throwing up or passing out. He would've shriveled up and died a long time ago if he had tried to keep up with her.

Sozin shook his head in the real world and in the spirit realm. "This is getting ridiculous!" he burst inwardly. "Is she going to close her tab? I know we have to wait, but how long is she gonna keep drinking like that? She's not even drunk!"

Wolf giggled at his brother's vexation. "Relax, bro. Like you said, she's an alcoholic. She probably does this shit on the daily."

Sozin sighed and let his impatience leave with his breath. "I suppose we'll just have to stay here until she's finished, even if it takes all night."

The two brothers continued to lie in wait of their quarry. Finally— at last, after what seemed like an eternity upon eternities—the woman payed for her night, put her hat back on, and silently stood up to leave.

"Looks like she left," Sozin said with a smirk. "Time to go break some bad."

Sozin threw his hood back on, the smirk developing into a sinister but charming grin on the bottom part of his unobscured face. There was always an element of excitement that came with this kind of work and it was making his blood tingle in a manner that his numbing loneliness often got in the way of. He couldn't wait to get up and follow her and finally have some circulation running through his legs. Although he was eager to jump into action, he decided to stay until after she left the bar to avoid looking like a stalker. Several seconds later, when he thought he was in the clear, only then did he head outside.

The streets were almost completely empty now. Outside the saloon, he saw her walking down the dark and rainy road. Perhaps to an inn to rest for the night? He wasn't sure, but he would find out. He tailed her throughout the village.

As he watched her, Sozin stayed far enough back that he could keep an eye on his target but not close enough that if she glanced over her shoulder, she would think he was following. As an experienced hunter, Wolf had educated him on this topic well. Maintaining the appropriate distance to a target was a delicate balance to manage, and ending up too close or too far both had their own consequences. Too far back and if he lost sight of her for a brief moment, then he might not be able to catch up in time to find her again; too close, and she would realize something is wrong and he would lose the element of surprise. Balance was nice and all, but Sozin usually preferred to err on the careful side as he would rather keep too much distance, lose sight of her, and just have to find her again, which he could through smell, rather than be too close and lose the crucial element of surprise that was so important to a shinobi.

Sozin wasn't sure where she was going though.

She never stopped walking.

Sozin was forced to tail her for longer than he'd hoped for and it was shooting chills up his spine. Maybe she'd detected him and was leading him away from the village on purpose? No... That couldn't be... She hadn't looked over her shoulder once. A one-on-one situation like that was in his favor, so it didn't make sense for her to do such a thing. But whether she knew he was there or not, she kept walking anyway. They were leaving the village. It was annoying, but at the same time, a little unsettling. With the direction both of them were heading in, they were soon going to be the only people left on road, and if she saw that it was just the two of them, he would lose his advantage.

Foreseeing this compromising situation, Sozin veered off into the bushes just as they passed the last few people at the edge of the village and headed into the uneasy forest. Despite this strange development, he kept trailing her, staying a healthy distance away from the revealing border of the dirt path and sticking to the deeper shadows within the woods. They would do well to conceal him, and he felt safe under their protection for the most part, but for some strange reason, something didn't feel right in the back of his mind even though everything seemed to be okay so far. Without the muffled chatter of villagers inside their houses or the sound of strangers that had been mucking about outside, things had suddenly gotten eeriely lonely and quiet in the rain.

Sozin turned his attention elsewhere. One thing was decided for him. This was a retrieval job, so he would have to use his paralysis technique to immobilize her and neutralize the threat factor. No deathblows, unfortunately, but how was he supposed to approach if he couldn't kill her? He could take the most obvious route and sneak up from behind, but that carried some risk and required a little bit of luck. What if she detected him? What if she just so happened to look behind her? Sozin thought he could do it, but it was too risky when other avenues of approach were available and much more attractive. His second option was to lie in wait in the thick cover on the side of the path, and then lunge out as soon as she passed him. That was good, but he could do better. His third and final avenue of approach that he could think of was to climb a tree up ahead and await her arrival for a pouncing blow. It carried the least risk of detection. Ikijo had taught him that humans tended to avoid looking above and below them and to abuse this behavior as a shinobi whenever possible.

"So, what's it gonna be?" Wolf asked.

"Tree... We're climbing up a tree," Sozin said.

"Nice! Show me those climbing skills you apes are so good at."

"You know, I can't imagine what it's like being a wolf and not being able to climb. That's like not being able to breath. Not sure what I would do if I didn't have hands."

Wolf laughed and wiggled his brows with a smirk. "Oh, I bet. We have it real tough."

Steps as silent as a feather, Sozin crept up way ahead of the woman and around the bend where the path curved and there was no line of sight. He looked for a suitable tree to perch on that offered a good pouncing position. When he found one, he climbed up the tree onto a high branch, high enough that it was unlikely she would see him lying in wait for her.

Sozin smiled dark and proud as she came rounding the corner. His hands began to fidget and curl as they primed themselves for the split second where they would need to act in order to secure victory. It would only take the briefest of moments, and then, just like that, the fight would be over. In fact, there would be no fight at all. That was the beauty of being a shinobi. Taking the quiet route made for an easy job and easy money if done right.

But then it didn't seem like it would be so easy.

As the woman was walking, one of her legs hung back in only the slightest of hesitations, a telling aberration in her stride. It was as though she had suddenly realized something but knew better than to freeze in place and give herself away. Fortunately, Sozin's trained eyes were too observant for that, and the smirk faded from his face.

She was acting natural.

But why?

The hairs on Sozin's neck stood up.

There was something going on here. If she had noticed his presence, then why wasn't she running away or trying to engage him? Considering his position, to anyone noticing him, it would clearly look like he was trying to assassinate her, nevermind the fact that he was simply a strange, cloaked man atop a tree in the middle of a forest at night if you took the other thing away.

"What's wrong, brother?" Wolf asked, seeing the disturbance on Sozin's face.

Sozin's fist curled up into a tight ball. "I think she's spotted me," he muttered.

"Impossible," Wolf cut back. "You've done everything right up to this point."

"I know..." Sozin said. "I'm not sure how she saw me, or if I just messed up earlier or something while following her and didn't realize, but I don't think I did. She never even looked back once, so I'm pretty certain it was just now that she spotted me. She might just have good eyes. Kind of messes up my plans..."

"Honestly, uh, I thought we had this in the bag, so I wasn't paying attention anymore. How can you be so sure she spotted you?"

"Her right leg hesitated ever so slightly. It was... unusual..."

"It doesn't look like she saw you though."

The woman was still a ways off but approaching slowly, slinking across the dirt path in a drifting gait. She had her head down, the rain dripping off the top of her bamboo hat.

"I know, and that's the weird part. She's still walking like everything's... just normal..." Sozin's gaze fell lower as the cogs turned in his head. After a few brief seconds, he spoke in sudden epiphany, dragging the words under his breath. "That cunning woman. She's trying to outplay me."

"How so?"

Sozin continued to stare warily at the woman from the thick branch he sat on. "She's hoping I didn't notice her little slip-up—that's why she's playing dumb. In my confidence, she wants and expects me to jump down so she can kill me on descent, but now that I know, I'm not going to give her the chance."

Wolf grinned toothily, nodding his head in proud recognition. "Sounds like a good theory if you ask me. You're probably right."

"I might be wrong and it could be nothing, but I have shuriken, so I can test the waters to see if I'm correct," Sozin said, feeling around under his cape for a metal star. "If I throw a shuriken at her leg, one of two things will happen: A..." he said raising his thumb, "she'll either deflect it and confirm my suspicions, or B..." he said raising his index finger, "she won't deflect it at all and will suffer a hit to the leg. Either way, I'm giving away my position, but if she already knows I'm here, it doesn't matter anyway. On the off chance she saw me and is planning to kill me when I jump down, I'll be avoiding her ploy in the process by being proactive about it and probably a tough fight as well if I happen to cripple her leg."

"Guess there's only one way to find out the truth," Wolf said with a grin of sinister delight. "Toss her a little present."

Sozin held a single shuriken in his hand. The pure, polished steel was a smooth cold upon the pads of his weathered fingertips. It had four sharp prongs in total with a small hole in the center. In addition to the shuriken mounted on the wheel attached to his wrist, the hole in the shuriken made for easy transport by allowing them to be strung underneath the concealment of Sozin's purple and black striped cape. The shuriken on his wrist were quicker to access, but going underneath the cape provided an element of surprise as enemies couldn't see what his hands were doing nor exactly what tools they were grabbing until he had already thrown them and they were forced to react. The advantage was a small one, but in a fight, everything factored into winning, and Sozin was going to take every advantage he could get, no matter how unscrupulous.

The shuriken in Sozin's hand peeked out from one of the flaps in his cape. In darkening focus, he narrowed his demon-red eyes at where the woman's thigh would be under her robes. In one swift motion, his arm shot out and the shuriken went flying with a flick of the wrist. Years of training and thousands upon thousands of throws stood behind the precision of his attack, and that experience did not fail him. The throw was perfectly straight and accurate, and it looked like it would hit its mark dead-on.

But the woman was fast.

Too fast.

In an instant, her eyes darted to the threat. She seized one of her blades, unsheathing it into a single, blistering swing that not just deflected the shuriken away, but reflected it back at Sozin with the piercing ring and flashing spark of metal against metal.

Sozin's eyes ignited with shock as he saw his own attack coming right back at his face. He lurched his head to the side and the shuriken embedded itself next to his ear into the trunk of the tree.

The woman raised her head to look at Sozin, revealing her face from under the cover of her bamboo hat. She bit down onto her pipe. A thin, wispy trail of smoke was billowing out just beyond the brim.

Sozin mumbled in dissatisfaction as they exchanged a hard gaze with each other. Deflection was one thing, but reflecting projectiles and doing it accurately was another matter entirely. Her coordination didn't seem to be impaired at all from the copious amount of alcohol she'd drank. Had he not moved so urgently, her attack would've hit him square in the face.

Sozin made a mental note reminding himself to be careful. Now that he knew he was exposed, he was going to have to deal with her in a direct fight. Not wanting anything to go to waste, he plucked his reflected shuriken from the tree trunk's bark and rose from where he sat on the branch. Leaping down from the tree, Sozin landed into a low, menacing thud in the middle of the dimly lit dirt road. Looming up to face her, displeasure riddled his glowering face beneath the hood.

Sozin brushed off some of the mud that had splattered onto his cape. He hadn't expected his night to be ruined by such an inconvenience of a person. She was lucky to have seen him, or perhaps, just that good. "My my... Not bad at all..." he said in a low voice.

"Shinobi..." the woman said, a steely edge in her eyes. She played with the pipe between her lips. "Don't you know it's not polite to sneak up on people?"

She was soft-spoken like he was. Her voice was an alluringly low but still feminine pitch, and when she spoke, she did so in a cool, velvety timbre that was as smooth as butter. This was no bluff. By looks of it, she was as calm as she was portraying herself to be—a trained tango through and through.

"So you've abandoned your duties and run away from your lord..." Sozin said. "Seems the consequences have caught up to you."

Kira's brows crinkled in irritation. Her free hand rested on the wooden hilt of her other unsheathed sword. "And who might you be?"

"Who I am is not important. What is important is what I'm going to do... You can either come along quietly or I'm taking you by force. The choice is yours..."

"I don't believe you're in any position to be giving me an ultimatum." Kira unsheathed her other sword with a defiant shing. They sheened in the rainy moonlight.

"It's your decision..." he said, stalking forward with a purpose in his step. The words hung in the perilous air. His features were uncompromising. "Don't say I didn't warn you..."

Sozin reached for the katana on his back and slowly unsheathed it, flaying the blade out to the side with deadly flourish.

Sozin had his tools and Kira had an extra sword. The fight wasn't exactly fair, but few things in battle truly were. Although a single sword provided great depth in terms of knowledge and mastery, a pair of swords went even further beyond that skill ceiling. Unless combined together, an attack from either blade would lack any real power because her hands were divided, but they allowed for rapid and easily chained attacks that could overwhelm an opponent. That would have otherwise been a problem, but if she tried to utilize the second blade while he was busy with the first one, Sozin could simply use the metal cuff on his wrist to block. Unfortunately, that's all the cuff was good for, but he had tools and intelligence to make up for the fact that he was a bad swordsman and needed to use a gimmick in place of a real weapon. Martial arts was where his talent had chosen to rest its head and that was fine. He could still take this fight.

Sozin glanced at Kira's weapons. He would have to keep an eye on both of her hands at all times. "All right..." he said inwardly as he prepared himself. "Let's get this over with quickly."

Kira eased herself into a defensive stance as Sozin approached faster and faster, quickly transitioning into a determined sprint to close the gap. He threw the shuriken he had in his hand from earlier and kept running forward to meet her. As he expected, she reflected it back at him and he raised his sword to return the favor. The shuriken ricocheted back and forth, the pings of metal getting more and more rapid until Sozin was on top of her and leaned to the side to let the shuriken fly free. It whizzed past him as he dashed forward into an upwards slash, using the momentum he was carrying to spin around into another heavier strike from the top. Kira repelled his attack, sliding upwards along his sword with crossed blades. Sozin went wide-eyed as his katana and the hands gripping it were blown aback behind his head. Swiftly, she followed by bringing her crossed katana out and then in from the sides like scissors. With his sword too far away, Sozin darted back with a grunt of astonishment, sucking in his gut to avoid the tips of her katana as she stepped in and nearly eviscerated his stomach with them.

Sozin staggered rearwards with a gasp, having lost his footing in the loose mud. Kira advanced, flowing from one attack to the next, dancing into a death blossom of strikes like her swords were a pair of twisting vipers. Between frantic blocks and lucky deflections, Sozin found himself being pushed back viciously by her onslaught. If he didn't do something, he was going to get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of her offense. He managed to turn the tide for a brief moment, digging his back foot into the dirt and holding his ground with a few slashes of his own. It broke her momentum, and he followed up, snarling and whipping around into a high, spinning kick to knock her out. The kick left a blistering white streak of accelerated winds across Kira's vision as she yanked her head back out of range. Before she could do anything else, Sozin leapt forward, bringing his foot back for another knock-out attempt at her head while he was airborne. Kira crossed her two swords to stop the attack, and Sozin gracefully rebounded off of them, somersaulting backwards some distance away.

The battle lapsed for a brief moment.

"Stay on your toes cause it looks like she's gonna give you some trouble," Wolf said. "Don't be so predictable."

Sozin's eyes turned analyzing. He didn't dare take them off Kira's glaring form. "Yeah," he said, reluctant to get near her again. "She's the close-range bruiser type. I've never seen such fluid attacks before... I don't think I can beat her with raw skill alone."

"Are you gonna disengage?"

"No, no..." Sozin said, a nefarious hand snaking under his cape. "This is winnable. I have plenty of shuriken and other tools to spare. She was playing dirty earlier, but let's see if she can keep up. I think I can trick her."

"What exactly do you have in mind?" Wolf asked.

"A ruse..." Sozin said. "My goal is to make her think she's reading my attack patterns by repeatedly throwing out three shuriken. She doesn't know what I'm carrying under my cape. She'll get used to expecting the shuriken at one point, and when that happens, I'll sneak a flashbang in place of the third shuriken. Her expectations will work against her. As long as I don't do it from too far away, she won't be able to spot the difference quick enough, and when she tries to deflect it, it'll explode in her face, disorienting her and giving me a brief moment to take her down."

Grinning, Wolf giggled in dark mischief. "You sly dog... I'd expect no less from my own."

Sozin smiled back, sharing Wolf's sentiments. "All in good keeping of the path. You've taught me well, brother."

Meanwhile, Kira, who was more comfortable on the defensive, heard a voice shout in the back of her mind.

"What are you doing, Kira?" a fox burst out in severe scolding. "Stop giving him time to think— he's analyzing you! Attack!"

Kira felt as though someone had booted her in the backside. Spurred on by her spirit animal's guidance, she raised her twin blades together to the side, narrowing her eyes in deep focus.

Sozin's eyes widened, flaring with alertness as his posture shot into evasive mode. In an instant, Kira entered into a flurry of slices and slashes that sent piercing shockwaves of wind hurling right at him. On reflexes alone, Sozin dodged them with jukes, airborne barrel rolls, and twisting jumps as they cut through the pulsing air like any blade would.

"How about you dance for me!" Kira yelled out loud.

They kept coming, a hailstorm of limb-severing strikes, one after the other. Sozin heard them as they shrieked past his evading form. He threw three shuriken to stagger her attacks, but it only delayed her for a short moment as she skillfully deflected them away.

"She's gonna cut you to pieces out here! Break line of sight!" Wolf shouted.

Sozin ripped off a smoke bomb from where it was tied with weak string to the rope around his waist. He chucked it at Kira's feet with as much force as he could, and it exploded in her face into a large cloud of smoke that was big enough to cover the width of the road. There was a pause in her attacks, and then a few more blind shockwaves came out of the cloud, but with the smoke obscuring Kira's vision, they were inaccurate guesses. Despite the bomb not being designed for toxicity, unlike ninja, she didn't have a face mask to allow for safe breathing and was completely exposed to the bomb's particles.

Kira refused to breath, holding onto her last breath of fresh air. Sozin's charging footsteps met her ears as he closed in on the cloud of smoke. Squinting, Kira burst out from the cover of the smoke to meet him full force with the slash of both her blades combined. Sozin jumped back before she could lock him into a combo and threw three more shuriken. He quickly dashed back in, creating his own offense with a series of punishing kicks, the final one sending her skidding right back into the cloud as it collided with her crossed swords. Sozin threw three more shuriken, pulled his mask up, and chased after, making sure to put as much pressure as possible on her abilities. They fought inside the cloud for a brief moment, then coming out other side of the dissipating smoke in a flurry of action.

As they continued their battle, Kira easily kept up with Sozin's attacks, reading all of them and deflecting their greater power with such ease it was as though she had foughten him many times before. Over the course of the fight, Sozin incorporated more feints into his attacks as he continued to throw trios of shuriken, but none of it was to any avail. With how often she was parrying him, if it wasn't for his elusiveness as a shinobi, she would've killed him already with a counterattack. His mistakes were simply too difficult to punish.

Kira growled in exasperation. "You're slippery—I'll give you that!"

Sozin didn't say anything back. The solemn concentration on his face only flickered in alarm from time to time during close calls. His calm face was hiding what was truly going on inside that he didn't want his enemy to see. Terror began to build in Sozin's blood, enhancing his reflexes. He operated well under pressure, but in this fight, it was bearing down on him harder than it'd ever had before. He needed time to enact his strategy and build complacency, but right now, the more time he gave her, the more opportunities she had to win out with her superior skill and technique. He would have to tide himself over if he was going to win this battle.

Sozin somersaulted off of Kira's blocking swords to create space. Pulling four smoke bombs from his waist, he chucked them into four corners around Kira. The bombs went off in a loud poof and left an eye in the center that was unobscured by smoke. Light as a feather, Sozin silenced his footsteps and made a mad dash for the cloud.

Kira shut her eyes and crossed her blades over each other. He was trying to box her in and use the smoke to come from an unpredictable angle. She smirked, sly as a fox, deciding to use her ears instead of her eyes which could only watch one direction.

Sozin was no fool. He anticipated her predictions and silently bolted up a tree adjacent to the ring of smoke. He would not come from the ground as she expected, but from the air! He leapt, a wolf in the night, coming down onto the eye in the center of the smoke where Kira was waiting. Just then, she heard the sound of his whistling sword as it cut downwards through the air, and her eyes shot open.

Kira deftly trapped the attack between her pair of blades.

"Denied," she said flatly.

Sozin growled as he struggled to free his weapon. She was trying to pry his sword from his hands with her own by pushing and pulling in opposite directions. By the skin of his teeth, Sozin managed to shove her back with his body and slide his sword out from under the lock of her blades just before his grip came loose.

The battle lulled into another deadly pause as both warriors stared intensely at each other, daring the other to make a move, trying to figure out the other's weaknesses. Without warning, Sozin suddenly lurched his blade forward into an ominous feint and he chuckled. Kira's face had remained calm and unflinching, completely composed and at the ready for a real attack. She knew better than to react to a strike before one's opponent was committed to it, lest she find herself a victim of deception, but apparently, the man found some humor in their quarrel. He smirked in dangerous amusement at her seemingly unbreakable steadiness.

They continued to fight there within the eye amongst the dissipating smoke, each clash ringing out with deathly sparks.

Soon, the smoke was all gone.

Slashing once, Sozin used his sword as a pivot point in the dirt to deliver a sweeping kick. Kira did exactly as he was hoping for and dashed back the perfect distance for him to have the highest chance of his ruse working. Not so far that she would notice the flashbang in time and not too close that the blast would affect him as well. Sozin smirked. Before she had time to change position, from underneath his cape, he quickly plucked two shuriken and a flashbang of the few different types that he was carrying—this one being a small, grape-like canister with a safety string that would explode upon impact when pulled and could fit neatly between his fingers.

As soon as he had them arranged, Sozin tossed the motley crew of projectiles in quick succession, the first two intentionally being the shuriken to make it look like his previous throws and then the flashbang. Kira couldn't spot the difference before it was too late. She tried to deflect the flashbang and it popped in her face with an ear-shattering bang. She staggered rearwards, somehow managing to maintain her balance amidst the chaos that instantly erupted between her ears and befuddled her senses. Letting out a painful mutter, she shut her blinded eyes tight and grit her teeth, sucking air through them as nausea exploded through her head.

She had been thrown into a stunned mass of confusion, and Sozin's eyes flared in desire like a predator that had finally found an opportunity to pounce. With blood in his eyes, he burst forth to capitalize, but the rain had been coming down for a while now, and in his careless eagerness, he'd forgotten all about it. He slipped in the mud, falling onto his hands messily.

The small size of the flashbang meant its effects weren't very powerful and wouldn't last very long.

"What are you doing?" Wolf yelled. "Get the fuck up, Sozin—you're gonna lose your chance!"

Sozin cursed and scrambled to his feet. He drove his legs into the ground, bolting for Kira, but then her eyes flew open as soon as he tried to jaw her with the hilt of his katana. She ducked, narrowly avoiding the attack, and pulled her leg back for a brutal kick.

It connected with his chest.

Hard.

The wind shot out of Sozin's lungs. He was sent soaring back along the dirt road. He hit the ground rough, the dense layer of soil under the mud that smothered his body crunching his limbs along with the rib that had just broken as he tumbled to a grinding halt. He coughed viciously as his spasming lungs tried to recover, gasping for air. The sudden stab of pain made it hard to focus and things were a blur. He raised his head and she was coming right for him.

Sozin growled, a fiery rage seeping through his bones. His brothers had beaten him worse than that. Even when he begged them to stop, they had always kept going.

Slamming his hand into the ground with a thud, Sozin burst up onto his feet, crashing his blade into hers like a sledgehammer driving a nail. A gust of wind exploded downwards and the attack nearly broke through her guard, but she managed to dissipate some of the energy in a partial deflect, somehow managing to stay standing as her knees crumpled, her back strained, and the bones in her feet cracked from only a small portion of the blow's full magnitude.

The shock was only temporary because the advantage was hers. She had him in close range now and once again launched one attack after another, stringing them along into constant danger. Sozin was pushed onto the defensive, struggling to keep up with her speed, grace, and any feints inbetween. Her attacks were fast but not wild. Each one was a calculated strike amongst a string of blows, some real, some not, meant to slowly chip away at his mental stamina and overwhelm his ability to keep up.

"Damn it!" Wolf shouted. "You're gonna lose, brother! You need to throw her off somehow!"

"I'm trying!" Sozin said with grit.

Things weren't looking so good, but the battle wasn't over yet. Sozin was going to have to get smarter if he wanted to win.

Staying close to her was a bad decision. He definitely couldn't contest Kira in close range, but thinking back to earlier, long range was also a no-go as well since Sozin remembered the shockwave attack she had tried to tear him to pieces with. Either way, it seemed he was going to get cut to ribbons no matter what he did, and it was simply a question of whether he wanted to die at her feet or not, but perhaps he could use that to his advantage? He couldn't win the battle of the blade but he could win the battle of the mind. Kira was certainly aware that she was winning because of her superior swordsmanship, and maybe even intelligence, and that smirk on her face from before was all the evidence he needed for it.

That was good news. It was something he could turn the tide of battle with. He could use that feeling of confidence against her by pretending to retreat and giving her a false sense of trust in her abilities. With the right distancing, he might be able to bait out a thrust attack and get a Mikiri Counter that way. Thrust attacks had the longest range of any sword swing. With how close she'd been sticking to him this entire fight, Kira had yet to throw a single thrust attack since she had no need to. Hopefully, her eagerness to stay close to him didn't mean she had knowledge of this obscure maneuver and simply wanted to avoid being unable to attack. With how shrouded it was from prying eyes, Ikijo had told him that it might as well be considered a forbidden technique, one that few shinobi—if any who had been taught were still alive—possessed in their arsenal.

More good news. Maybe even great. He still had an element of surprise here that he could cling to and abuse.

As a shinobi, Sozin knew how to control the positioning game incredibly well which helped play into his elusiveness. If he managed to stay just at the edge of the range of her swords, he could dash out every time she attacked, nullifying her offense and forcing her to step in for what was probably going to be a thrust attack. There was no guarantee that she would throw one out, especially if she caught on to what he was trying to do, but he had a higher chance of receiving one like that. In that moment, he would end the fight once and for all with a single, crushing counter. His paralysis technique would come in handy for the finisher.

Sozin wasn't sure how many ideas he had left inside his head, but Wolf concurred wholeheartedly with this one, so that settled things. He decided to put it into action. His brother's word was always absolute.

Carefully watching his footwork, Sozin lingered at the edge of her range and peeled away each and every time she tried to clip him just as he planned. It seemed like she had spent a little too much time studying swordsmanship since her positioning game couldn't even hold a candle to his. Her attacks were much easier to deal with this way, so much so that he was surprised he hadn't thought of this strategy earlier as it seemed so obvious now.

As Sozin dodged, flowing from one foot to the next like a leaf in the wind, he could've avoided her attacks completely if he wanted to, but he made it so that they nearly connected each time, enticing her further like a cat that was finally about to clamp her excited jaws around the mouse. He put on his best act, using the fear that he usually kept suppressed to feign growing anxiety and desperation. It wasn't that hard to do; the emotions bubbling inside of him weren't very different from what simmered to the surface.

He began to see it on her face. Calm and dignified, a smirking Kira seemed to think she had him on the run. Her blood burned in anticipation. He wouldn't block, only dodging out of what seemed to be a lack of options at this point. She thought nothing of it when she threw out a low jab with one of her katana.

Sozin's eyes lit up. His foot had been waiting for it this whole time. Rather than backing up like he had been doing, he sidestepped, and her weapon extended out beside him for the maneuver. It all happened in one split second. Raising his leg, he crushed the heel of his foot down into the heart of her blade, ramming it into the ground and kicking up mud with a harrowing slam. Kira's hand was latched onto the hilt of the katana and she was yanked forward into an unbalanced lean.

For a sliver of time, their gazes met each other.

The calm in Kira's expression drained, replaced by panic, but Sozin was as cold and calculating as any efficient machine was. A twinge of fear ran up Kira's neck when she saw the look on his face, and she swung wildly at him with her other sword. Sozin blocked it. It all felt like it was happening in slow motion. He flipped up over Kira, her frantic eyes following, and he delivered two quick jabs with pursed fingers to either side of her upper back—pressure points for each half of the human body.

Every morsel of life seemed to leave her limbs in one, single, table-turning instant. Wide-eyed, Kira choked out in a gasp from the blows. Before she knew it, her knees had buckled and her katana had slipped from her fingers. She hit the ground with a hard grunt, dirt and grime grinding into her cheek.

Sozin... had won.


	10. The Cunning Wolf and the Sly Fox

Moonlight and rain fell freely upon the forms of two young warriors as shadowed trees framed the muddy road. The forest had been the only witness to their battle. On the outside, Sozin's face remained stoic, but on the inside, he had to admit, he couldn't believe that he actually won. The entire fight was exhilarating yet scary to to think about. Admittedly, that was the closest he had come to death in a long while, making the taste of victory that much sweeter upon his tongue.

"Hmph," Sozin grunted, circling around to Kira's side as he studied her. He sheathed his katana behind his back with a click when he was sure that he had immobilized the woman. "Nothing more than pretty face after all..."

"Fuck you," Kira spat, her cheek in the dirt and mud splattered on the side of her face. "What the hell did you do to me?"

Sozin lowered himself into a crouch. "I've paralyzed you from the neck down. Don't worry—it's not permanent. The effects will wear off after some time, but I had to as there tends to be a lot of... struggle... when I handle my targets," he said in dark emphasis.

Kira strained to look back at him from the ground, her dignified eyes darting in worry.

Seeing her expression change, Sozin let out a few light chuckles. His head fell and shook in disapproval of himself. He turned to her with a more apologetic face. "Relax," he continued, a little softness slipping into his voice at the sight of her. "I'm just here to do my job. For what it's worth, I like to consider myself a civilized man and a professional."

"That makes me feel so much better..." Kira's brooding eyes flickered away. "What difference does it make if it's gonna be you or them?"

Sozin's brows hardened back into the furrowed state they were usually in. "The difference is I'm going to get paid."

"And here I thought you were just another one of their lackeys. You have no idea what they're going to do to me."

"Probably a lot of bad things..." Sozin wrung his hands together as they exchanged gazes and the woman's ire dug into his soul. "Look, I'm sorry, lady, but what happens to you isn't my concern. It's just business—I follow orders and I get paid. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Oh, yeah, asshole? I figured that," Kira sneered. "This isn't the first time I've been a victim of men just following orders. Men like you are the reason this world is rotten. How do people like you even sleep at night?"

"Men like me? Is that it?" Sozin piqued in interest. "You know, you may not like what I'm doing, but what people like you never seem to understand is that the opinions of others don't pay my bills and they don't keep me alive. I learned that the hard way so don't compare me to everyone else. You have no idea what kind of man I am nor what kind of man I wish I could be."

Kira didn't say anything back. Her gritty, orange eyes merely stared at Sozin intently as though she was trying to peer into the depths of his soul.

"It's a shame, but we all have our own problems to deal with and you're just the solution to mine. Maybe if we didn't, the world would be a better place." Sozin retrieved some rope from underneath his cape. Gripping Kira's wrist, he said, "Those eyes aren't a natural color. Are you spiritborn?"

Kira slumped her head back in the mud and stared straight ahead into the darkness of the forest. She didn't say anything. Not a single word. She didn't like the idea of being in such a compromising position, much less the fact that she had been defeated by this hooligan. Her displeasure clearly marked her face. Every part of her was screaming to get out of this paralysis he had put her in.

Sozin frowned as he bound her hands behind her back. "I could tie this rope much tighter if I wanted to. With how nice I'm being, the least you could do is be polite and entertain my conversation."

"I have nothing to say to you," Kira muttered.

Sozin moved down to her lower legs, binding them at the ankle. "Well, you better get comfortable because it's going to be a while before we get back to Hirata Estate. As for your weapons..." Sozin set his eyes on the two muddied katana resting nearby in the dirt. He removed their sheaths from Kira's sash and inserted them into his own. Bending down to take the swords, he turned his head back to her and said, "It would be bad if you got your hands on these again. Maybe I'll sell them. You won't be needing them anymore, will you?"

Kira picked her head up again and cast Sozin an icy glare. She'd been using those swords since childhood—her master had bought them for her when she was still a budding prodigy—and she knew every inch of them like the back of her hand. To see them go was to see a part of her life disappear, but it wasn't like she had a choice. She swallowed painfully, shutting her eyes in graceful acceptance. It was a curse to get too attached to things, but it seemed impossible to not feel attached to those swords when it was the last thing she had of her master.

Unaware of their meaning, Sozin examined the fine workmanship in the glinting moonlight before sheathing them on his person for later down the line. "Weapons of this quality are hard to come by. In fact, I already know that a pair of these will fetch a fine price on the market..." he said in dark greed.

The chilling breeze decided to jump into the conversation at that moment and pushed up against Sozin's cape. Standing there in the silence, it became uncomfortably apparent that they were both cold, mucky, and soaking wet from the rain. He felt a sudden craving for the dry warmth of his manor. What were they doing just sitting around out here? Not wanting to waste any more time on this job, he rolled Kira over, getting mud all over her back and hair, and threw her up onto his shoulder like a caveman. Despite her slim form, she was a lot heavier than he expected her to be.

Sozin felt her weight settle into his bones and let out a chuckle. "I know you're not supposed to say this to a woman, but you really don't look like you would weigh this much."

"It's the muscle..." Kira replied flatly.

That was the last thing she said. After that, it was a long and quiet walk back to Hirata Estate.

Sozin supposed it was inappropriate for them to be engaging in a conversation so he didn't make any more attempts at having one even if he wanted to entertain himself. His eyes began to wander. It was boring for a while, and a little lonely because not even the birds were awake to sing them a song anymore, but after a couple hours of listening to the wind hum and watching the leaves blow by, the large palace came into view from the forest road.

In the spirit realm, Sozin beamed with a wide grin at Wolf. "There's the palace! After this, we're gonna go home and celebrate in the morning with a big breakfast! You said you wanted to grab steaks, right?"

"Yeah..." Wolf said, his voice lacking enthusiasm. "You did well..."

The night was in full bloom and not a soul was to be seen as Sozin entered the hamlet. He made his way up to the palace and past the guards. The towering arched doors to the great hall swung open with a heavy creak. Talro and Takeda were waiting for him all the way at the other end. Sozin headed over and gingerly set Kira down on the floor in front of where they sat while an empty expression dwelled upon her face like she had sucked herself into another world. She still chose to say nothing, remaining a complete mute even as Takeda kneeled down by her side and carefully inspected her with groping hands.

"She's dirty, but seems to be in good condition," Takeda said with a glancing nod to his father.

Impressed, Talro said, "You work fast, shinobi. I see your reputation has not been exaggerated."

Sozin shuffled in his feet. He wanted to leave already. "My payment?" he asked.

"Oh, yes, of course." Talro motioned for one of his servants to hand a small coin purse to Sozin. "As we agreed upon."

Sozin undid the silk string securing the purse, wanting to ensure that it contained the appropriate amount of money. Inside it were 25 coins—senarii—valued at one-thousand sen each. They made large and expensive purchases quite easy to make.

Sozin smirked and tipped his head in respect. "Pleasure doing business with you."

Sozin took one last glance at Kira before turning around to leave. He'd long since gotten used to that corrupted feeling in his heart that pervaded him at the end of jobs like this. Normally, he felt good at the end of a job. No line of work was quite as interesting as his. It was out of doors, indoors, mentally stimulating, and gave him an incentive to stay in shape. Although he was working for the scum of society, scum paid well, a lot better than any honest profession ever could, and by picking the right contracts, he only ruined the lives of other undesirables. As far as Sozin was concerned, he was cleaning up the underworld for the underworld and considered that to be rather therapeutic, however, the feeling of a job well done wasn't so satisfactory this time. The woman had nothing to do with any of that.

But it was just business.

Right?

_Just business,_ he told himself. _I have my own problems._

Not for much longer anyway. He could pay back the debt he owed and continue living life having learnt his lesson. He was a man of discipline. If he didn't have that, then what did he have that made him so different from everyone else?

Sozin headed out the way he came. He marked the location of his home on the map he was carrying with an X so he could find his way back. He didn't think he needed the map with the sense of direction that he had as a hunter, but it did make the whole getting around thing a lot easier. Gazing at the map, he found himself outside of the estate and on the roads and byways connecting Ishida again. After a long day, he was left feeling like he would pass out as soon as he collapsed onto his futon. While he was more than ready to call it a night, all the while, Wolf had been pacing around restlessly and ruminating in the background unbeknownst to him.

It was then that Wolf decided to speak up.

"Hey, Sozin..." Wolf managed to utter.

"Yeah?" Sozin said.

"There's something I think I should tell you."

"What's that?"

"Uh..." Wolf hesitated, chuckling nervously. "I really think we should go back."

In the spirit realm, Sozin snapped his head around to look at Wolf. "What? Why?"

"Yeah, about that... there's another thing I gotta tell you too," Wolf said. "The eyes of that woman-"

"She's a spiritborn, I know," Sozin cut in.

"Yeah, that's true and all, but—and you're gonna love this part," Wolf chuckled, "Do you, ah... do you remember that little story I told you when we first met?"

"You mean the one with the fox?"

"Yeah..."

"I think I know where this is going..." Sozin grinned in disbelief, shutting his eyes tight and pinching the bridge of his nose. It wasn't funny as much as it was outright ridiculous. He chuckled but then let out a tired groan.

"Don't laugh—I'm serious," Wolf said. "I could recognize those eyes anywhere. She's the spirit animal of the woman we just turned in."

"I know you're serious. So what are you trying to tell me exactly?"

"What do you think? I'm telling you to go back. We can't just leave her in there."

"Go back?" Sozin said like it was an insane idea. "Hold on a minute. Can I at least ask why first? We got what we needed."

"Because she saved my goddamn life, maybe? How do you think that's going to reflect on me if we don't do anything? The lone wolf doesn't abandon those who have been loyal to him. We've got the money now anyway. There's nothing to lose."

"Except our lives and reputation if we get caught." Sozin crossed his arms. "You know, hearing this is a bit strange coming from the guy who says not to worry about girls. Come on... You think a woman like that would've looked our way twice in the past, let alone glance?"

"I know, I know, but this one is different," Wolf said. "You just gotta trust me because I've known her spirit animal in a previous life. We have to bail her out."

"That was a previous life and in another world. What makes you think they're even close to being the same?"

"I mean, just look at the two of us. We're not the same, but we're pretty damn similar."

Sozin sighed in frustration. "Couldn't you have told me this earlier? I would've loosened up the rope so she could get free on her own."

"I..." Wolf hesitated and let out a huff of exasperation. "I didn't want to mess up our night, but it was going to kill me if I didn't say anything. Listen, you can beat the shit out of me later for it, okay? Let's just go back, all right? The fox saved my life. I can't just throw something like that away, especially not when I still owe her a favor."

Turning around, Sozin started to walk back in the direction of the estate. Even if he disagreed, his brother's word was always final. "So much walking..." he muttered to himself. "Fine... I kinda felt bad too... I suppose it's only right."

"Thank you," Wolf said. "And for the record, this is a one-time exception."

_Perfect._

_Just perfect._

So how was he supposed to get back in now?

He couldn't go in normally. It would be suspicious if any of the estate guards saw him returning to the palace grounds and then for Kira to go missing only a short time after. He would have to make it look like she escaped again which meant no one could know that he returned to get her out.

"We're gonna have to sneak in, Wolf," Sozin said. "I don't want anyone knowing that we came back."

"Not a problem for a guy like you, is it?" Wolf said.

Sozin let out a chuckle. "Maybe... It's not like we're trying to assassinate the Emperor, but we'll see. I have my limitations..."

For the most part, the perimeter of the estate was rugged and hilly and acted as a natural cradle for the palace and hamlet within. Since he had been through the area before, from what Sozin remembered, all of the guards were stationed around the palace. He decided to avoid the hamlet entirely, seeing as there was no point in going through there, and opted for climbing up a steep, cliffy hill that curved around the side of the hamlet and up to the palace instead. It was much better for him to reach the palace from the rear that way and under the cover of the forest as well than to try and go in through the front.

After some heavy trekking through the brush and terrain, Sozin poked his head out from the cover of the treeline and into the short clearing between the forest and the palace. The myriad of connected buildings that made up the extensive palace grounds came into view from the edge of dense thickets. Not too far away, a few bored souls were mindlessly patrolling the palace walls as they clearly hadn't had much to do in a long time. Judging by their demeanor, it seemed like the guards rarely, if ever, encountered anything serious to deal with, so none of them were showing any due diligence in conducting their uneventful duties. That was always good to see. It made things easier for him.

Now that he was here, he not only had to avoid any residents and guards, but also figure out where Kira was. Sozin rummaged around inside one of the pockets of his cape. Luckily, he still had the garment from earlier that he could use to track her down.

The men walking along the wall would frequently come and go in pairs, whistling and chatting to stave off their boredom, their eyes sometimes grazing across the bramble where Sozin was hiding. When he saw an opening in the patrols, Sozin bolted for the palace wall as fast as he could without making any noise, stepping lightly and quickly to silence his footsteps. He ran up the palace wall and vaulted over, landing onto the stone on the other side as though he had jumped onto a cloud. He was inside of a dark alley scattered with a few crates of food and several washing lines strung high up across the gap with clothing. The clothes waved and fluttered in the gentle breeze. Hopefully, Kira wasn't downwind of him or else this was going to be a lot harder to pull off.

Blending in with the shadows, Sozin moved to the mouth of the alley, keeping a low profile as he surveyed the scene before him. Security was more lax on the inside of the palace than he had expected it to be, but he supposed that made sense since it was so stringent on the outside. Only a few pairs guards were posted by the doors of what Sozin assumed to be important buildings while a few more ambled down the walkways.

Sozin could see the great hall at the front of the palace. Kira probably wasn't there anymore, so he sniffed the garment and then the air. Leaning out from the alley to catch some of the breeze, he realized that the smell seemed to be coming from a small shed across the dividing stone walkway. Glancing both ways, there was nobody looking, and Sozin darted for the shed. As soon as he reached the door, he slipped inside, shutting the it behind him with a stealthy swiftness that only a shinobi could pull off.

Inside of the shed, the smell was still weak but much stronger than when he was outside where only strays of the scent managed to escape beyond the walls. Shelves with various sundries, chests, and tools lined the interior. In the corner, there was a hatch where the scent continued to emanate from. Light escaped from the cracks in the hatch.

"Wonder what's down there," Sozin murmured to himself.

Curiously, Sozin opened the hatch and a ladder led down into a stone tunnel. He wanted to go down, but it would be unwise to do so without being sure of who or what could be waiting for him. Since he had no line of sight on the corridors, he listened carefully for any signs of trouble, cupping his ear with his hand for a few moments to hear better.

He heard nothing at first, but then the faint sound of a cell door opening came from somewhere at the other end of the tunnel. Something heavy and wooden was dropped onto the stone floor.

"Wash up!" a guard commanded rudely. "I'll be back for you in a few minutes. Lord Takeda won't accept you as you are now."

The heavy iron door of a cell closed with a metallic shut. There was no response.

Footsteps receded into the distance and then another door shut. Silence held strong.

The silence made it seem like the coast was clear, but just in case he was wrong, Sozin sniffed the air again, this time checking for the smell of another person. There was nothing except for Kira's smell and the dissipating scent of the guard, so he crept down the ladder and into the tunnel. The tunnel stretched on under the palace grounds. Torches were secured onto the walls by mounts, and they lit up a long corridor of empty cells. At the end of the hall was a set of stairs leading up to the door where the guard had left. It was also right by where the only occupied cell was.

Sozin wasn't sure what reasons a man like Talro could possibly have for needing this many cells. There were no good reasons that came to mind at least, but it probably wasn't anything good. Human trafficking was the best guess he could produce.

Keeping an eye on the shadows underneath the door, Sozin drifted up to Kira's cell, as quiet as he could be but ready to move in case they decided to shift and twist to warn him of an intrusive person. Kira's dejected form was sprawled across the floor flat on her back. The bucket of water and rag draped on the rim that the guard had left her were still untouched.

"Lady Tomoe..." Sozin spoke up.

Without much spirit, Kira picked her mud-caked head up at the sound of a familiar voice. The rest of her body was still lifeless and didn't move at all. Her eyes creased in confusion when they fell upon Sozin. "You..." she said, not sure how to feel about seeing him again. "What are you doing here?"

Sozin gripped the cold bars of the cell. "It seems our paths are destined to cross again. I'm here to get you out..."

Kira stared at Sozin, studying him for a second. "I can't possibly fathom why, but I'm not going to complain. You're gonna need the key then. The guard locked the door."

"I don't need the key. I just need the guard to come back," Sozin said. "When he returns, get him to open your cell somehow. You can do that, right?"

"Of course I can do that."

"Good..." Sozin glanced back to the shadows underneath the door. "I'll knock him out once he opens it."

Sozin retreated into the neighboring cell. He waited in silence for a short while. A few minutes later, the approaching sound of footsteps and opening of the tunnel entrance signalled that the guard had come back.

The guard didn't sound so happy to see that she was still dirty. "What's the matter with you, woman? Why haven't you cleaned yourself up?" he demanded to know.

Kira gazed at the ceiling from the floor. "I can't..." she said in dissatisfaction.

"What do you mean you can't?" the guard replied, then raising his voice. "Come on now! On with it! Lord Takeda won't like it if I keep him waiting on you."

"There's no way for me to move. The man who captured me paralyzed me from the neck down. If you want me to clean up, then you're gonna have to come in here and do it yourself."

The guard gave a depraved smirk. "Really?" he drawled with salacious intent. "If that's the case, then I'd be more than happy to help out." He reached for the ring around his waist that held the key to the cell door and opened it. "Been a while since I've had some fun."

In the neighboring cell, Sozin took that as his cue to start moving. He snuck over while the guard's attention was completely focused on Kira. In one smooth motion, Sozin clasped his hands around the guard's head, the man's eyes widening and his lips on the verge of blurting out in confusion, but it was too late, and Sozin snapped his neck with a vicious twist before he was able to do anything. There was a horrifying crack, Kira winced, and the guard went limp, his heavy body collapsing to the ground in a heap.

"Just another beast running on impulses," Sozin muttered in disgust.

"Well," Kira said in slight astonishment, "I see you have more than one way of paralyzing someone."

Sozin turned his attention back to Kira and something resembling warmth found its way onto his face. "That's the lethal method. Are you all right?"

"Yeah..." Kira said. "I'm fine, but I can't move."

"Not a problem," Sozin said. "Can I put my hands on you?"

"I believe you already have," Kira said dryly.

Sozin rolled his eyes. Crouching down, he rolled Kira onto her stomach and delivered a series of quick but precise finger jabs into the muscles of her back.

Kira felt her chest unlock and let out a gasp. Relief came flooding in, washing over her face and filling her to the brim of every arm and leg. "Oof..." she breathed as the rest of her body came undone and revived. It was quick but the procedure was done in less than a few seconds.

Sozin stood up and extended a hand to the woman. "You should be good now. Let me know if you feel any lingering stiffness."

Shifting over onto her side, Kira looked up and was a little confused at why he was helping her. She was still grateful for his assistance and gladly took his hand.

"Thanks," Kira said as Sozin pulled her upright. She groaned and rolled one of her shoulders in a circle, feeling it pop. "That felt weird. You should be my chiropractor."

Sozin snorted in amusement. "You're welcome..." he grumbled in a low voice.

For a man, Sozin stood at just below average height, but for Kira, however, now that they were standing together, it became clear that she was fairly tall for a woman. Her geta sandals probably gave her an inch or so, but she was eye-to-eye with him. There were no hard and fast rules when it came to the size of warriors, but it tended to be the case that samurai were bigger than ninja. Not always though. Unlike his father, Sozin could never consider himself a tall person. In some ways, that was a good thing. Given his profession, it meant he attracted much less attention and had an easier time hiding in plain sight.

Sozin started to remove the pair of twin katanas that he'd taken from Kira from the sash around his waist. "I, uh..." he said as his hands worked to get them off his person. He managed to remove them and held them out for her to take. "I believe these are yours."

Kira took her swords back with a rightful and satisfying snatch. She inspected them for a brief moment before tucking them into her sash where they belonged, saying, "They are... I see you haven't sold them yet. I'll try not to stab you with them."

Sozin stuck an wary hand out, his eyebrows raising as his face lit up in concern. "It sounds like you're joking, but please don't. I came here in good faith."

"Relax," she said with a smirking jeer, "I'm a professional..."

"Great," Sozin said in a lukewarm tone. "I rescued a comedian."

Kira brushed herself off. "Not yet you haven't. We're still in the lion's den."

"Hopefully we won't need our weapons." Sozin turned to leave. "No one knows I came back for you, so let's get out of here before someone notices that something's wrong."

Kira gestured in front of her with her hand. "By all means, lead the way..."

Sozin led Kira down the corridor of cells to where the ladder was. They climbed up into the shed but had to hunker down as a pair of guards wandered by unannounced. The shed was made of cheap wooden planks and had a few small openings and cracks that Sozin could see through, if just barely. He used one of the peepholes to keep track of the guards through the wall.

"So, shinobi..." Kira whispered. "What's the plan?"

"For now, we just have to run over to the other side and into that alley over there," Sozin whispered back, trying to get a good view.

"And then what?"

"And then it's over the wall, out of the estate, and as far away from this place as possible. As long as you follow my lead, we'll get out of here in one piece."

"Sounds easy enough. I'm guessing you've done this sort of thing before?" Kira said.

Sozin glanced at her. "Going back on my contract? No... Sneaking out of places? Yes..."

They waited until the guards had left. Once they were gone, Sozin cracked the shed door open a tad and peeked out to ensure that they were in the clear. Except for a few unattentive guards in the distance, there was nobody to see their escape.

"Okay, move! Sozin said, running out of the shed.

Kira followed and the two warriors darted into the alley, submerging into the shadows. At the end of the alley was the wall where Sozin had entered from. With skill and speed, he kept running and stealthily ran up the wall and clasped onto the edge, peeking over the side to check for any dangers. He didn't see any guards, so he dropped back down.

Kira looked on in astonishment. "Um..." she said, raising an amused finger, "You're gonna have to give me a boost because I don't know if I can do that."

"No problem," Sozin said. Standing in front of the wall, he lowered himself into a high crouch and held his palms together in front of him. "I'm ready when you are. The wall's pretty high so make it a good jump."

Kira backed up from Sozin, making sure to give herself enough space to run. When she thought she was far enough back, she dug her feet into the ground and burst forth. She jumped onto Sozin's palms and he launched her messily onto the top of the wall.

Kira was clumsy in a way that reminded Sozin of his younger years. He watched as she clambered over the wall and landed onto the other side with a grassy thud. Sozin was quick to follow behind her but in a way that was a lot more quiet and graceful. He landed right next to her where she was waiting for him.

Sozin stifled a laugh from the back of his nose. "Nice landing," he sniggered.

Kira merely blinked at him, bringing her lips together into a frivolous, carefree pucker.

"Okay..." Sozin giggled under his breath, waving her along with his hand. "This way."

They ran out of the clearing and into the cover of the thickets before any guards could show up. Sozin felt a lot more comfortable here under the protection of the trees. There was no one that could possibly see them at this point so there was no need for them to rush anymore. To get them off the hill, he simply retraced his steps, but navigating wasn't the hard part, it was figuring out how to climb down the bluffs with another person that proved to be troublesome. Although things were a little tougher now, he made it work by using the length of his grappling hook to help Kira who had no experience in the way of rock climbing or any sort of climbing at all. Somehow, they managed to get out of the estate without either of them getting hurt and reached the safety of the roads.

"Not bad for a samurai..." Sozin said as they walked through the dark forest.

"Ronin," Kira corrected. She wiped her sweaty brow. "You don't get tired doing that?"

"Mmmm, sometimes I do, but it takes a lot more than a couple of rocky hills and a steep incline to get me tired. That's just par for the course as a shinobi."

"Jeez... You make it look easy."

"I could say the same about your swordsmanship."

"We all have our strengths," Kira said. "Thanks for getting me out of there. They don't even know that I'm gone."

"For now, at least." Sozin glanced back at the palace in the distance. "We should put some distance between us and this place. I'm glad we got out of there because I gotta say, I think we got off on the wrong foot."

"Oh, really? You fucking kidnapped me—I couldn't tell," Kira said.

Sozin burst out with a hearty laugh, a sense of cheekiness running through his breath at her abrupt brashness. He threw his hands together into a clasp and sucked air through his teeth. "Right, well, that's over now, and I got my money for it," he said with the grin of a millionaire, wiggling the small coin purse strung to his torso.

Kira's eyes fell upon the little bag of money and then returned to the lit up expression on Sozin's face. He had a strange brand of smile that she had never seen before—the signature kind that you don't ever forget about a person once you see it. "Now that we're out of there, I've been wanting to ask you something..." Kira fiddled with one of the swords on her hip. "Why did you decide to come back? I thought what happened to me... wasn't your concern..." Her voice trailed off into a pensive drop. The disappointment that leached into her final words seemed to stain the air. It was obvious that she'd been thinking back to what Sozin had said.

"I'm gonna be honest with you, I almost didn't come back." Sozin put a hand on the back of his neck. "I'm not too proud of it, but I did feel bad. And the crazy thing is, it turns out that our spirit animals know each other, believe it or not, so I couldn't just leave you there."

Kira raised her eyebrows in doubt and surprise. "You're joking, right? What are the chances of that? You've never even seen my spirit animal."

"Is it a fox?"

"Yeah. How did the hell did you know?"

Right away, Wolf materialized into existence, popping up next to Sozin from a cloud of ash and smoke in all his shady and aloof grandeur. "Because I told him," he interjected.

Hearing their conversation, Vesper came into existence too and materialized next to Wolf from leaves and wind. They both stood between their spirit users, separating them. "Valenos..." she said in a smooth voice.

"There you are!" Wolf flashed the fox a toothy but faintly sinister grin that resembled Sozin's own. "I was just about to ask you to come out."

Confused, Kira's eyes swapped between Sozin and Wolf. Despite being different species, both of them bore a curious sort of resemblence to each other. She imagined that Vixen and her probably appeared the same way. "I don't even know what's going on. Can someone fill me in before you all start talking?" Kira spoke up. She'd been excluded out of enough conversations in her life for it to have left a bad taste in her mouth.

"Sorry, Kira, I forgot to tell you about this guy," Vesper said with a sideways glance. "He's a... former acquaintance of mine."

Wolf walked with a bounce in his step. "The karma's come back in full swing! If you weren't a strong believer before, Vesper, I bet you are now!"

"To be honest, you had me worried for a minute, Valenos. You traded us in for money. I actually thought you were going to abandon us," Vesper said.

"Oh, come on. I wouldn't do that. Not after what you did for me. We came back... I just had to convince my brother here." Wolf gestured with his head towards Sozin.

"Your brother?" Kira remarked.

"Hell yeah, my brother!" Wolf said. "We're brothers in fate. Right, Sozin?"

"Yep..." Sozin breathed in a dejected huff. He stuck his hands into the pockets of his baggy hakama and thought about how much he wanted to go home.

Vixen turned her gaze towards Sozin. "So this is your spirit user?" she said to Wolf.

"Just call me Sozin..." the shinobi with exhaustion. The past 24 hours had worn his body down, and he was beginning to feel all that fatigue as it marinated into his bones and bled through the corners of his voice.

"Sozin, huh?" Kira repeated with interest. She had heard that name before several years ago as it had spread like a wildfire. The news of the Daihachi family's slaughter had been rampant for weeks. "You're... a shinobi..." she said tentatively. "You wouldn't happen to be..."

Sozin stopped her with his hand. "I am..." he interrupted without shame. "I'm Sozin Daihachi."

The air got heavier. Since they were now spirit animals, Wolf and Vixen looked at each other in mutual understanding. This was a different life and they decided to let their spirit users talk things out normally. They quietly assimilated back into them to let their conversation flow as it should.

"Are you surprised to hear that?" Sozin continued in no particular tone. "You look like you are..." Though his face had matured, he was still that same boy from before, perhaps not in mind or in body, but most definitely in spirit.

"A little... There's quite a bounty on your head. Maybe I should turn you in to the authorities for what you just did," Kira joked.

Under his cape, Sozin felt the delicate area on his lower chest with the grace of his fingers. Pain emanated from the spot as he breathed in. "You already broke one of my ribs. I would say that's enough, wouldn't you?"

"I suppose..."

"How did you recognize me?"

"If memory serves, you look a lot different than you do on your poster. Frankly, I was hardly able to, but I happen to be good with people. Very good..." Kira said with a sly and roguish expression. "It's one of the perks of being blessed with the fox spirit."

"I see... Well, I hope you can reserve your judgement," Sozin said. "There's a lot more to that story than most people realize."

Kira watched with softness as the moonlight painted her face. "I'd say I've judged you enough for one day. I can tell you're not a bad person. Whatever forced your hand and caused you to kidnap me, I hope the issue resolves..." Kira peered away thoughtfully and then looked back at Sozin. "It seems everything worked out in the end, didn't it?"

"Fortunately... Just so we're clear, the job wasn't anything personal," Sozin assured her. "No hard feelings, right? I wouldn't want anyone coming back to try and get revenge on me."

Kira gave a hum of amusement. "Don't worry about it—I won't hold a grudge. I'd say you've redeemed yourself."

"Good..." Sozin said. His thoughts turned to their spirit animals. "You know, the bonds that tie us are somewhat amusing. You still haven't told me who you are. Your skill with a blade is quite impeccable."

"Oh, me?" Kira said like that question couldn't possibly be directed at her. "I'm just a wandering samurai... A nobody."

"I don't believe your skill qualifies you as a nobody. How did someone like you end up in the hands of the Hirata clan?" Sozin asked.

Kira rubbed her arm as a cold gust of wind brushed past, taking leaves along with it. "Well, I was on my own until Talro's son—that bastard of a man, Takeda—happened to see me in public. He had his lackeys kidnap me in the middle of the night while I was sleeping because he fancied the way I looked. Can you believe that? They took me back to the palace to be... consummated... into one of his wives, but I managed to escape. Then, you came into the picture."

"That doesn't sound too pleasant," Sozin murmured with some remorse.

"It really wasn't..." Kira said.

Sozin glanced towards the road in front of them which was now a junction splitting into two directions. "If it makes you feel any better, I won't be in the picture much longer. This is where we part ways."

"Oh, I didn't mean it like that," Kira said.

"No, that's not it," Sozin said. There was a hint of depression in his voice. "I've just had a long day chasing you around and I'm sure you're tired too and want me out of your hair." Sozin pulled out the map he was carrying from one of the pockets underneath his cape. He unfolded it and traced one of the roads on the map with his finger before pointing in front of them. "You see that road? The village I took you from is in that direction. Take the map. It'll help you get back to where you were."

Kira let out a sigh. She grabbed the map, a little surprised and also confused by the man's gesture. Most men were always trying to spend time around her, so it was strange to see one so eager to pull away. "I know my way around Ishida. I don't think I'll need this, but thanks."

"I don't doubt it," Sozin said as he turned away towards the other road. He took a step and was about to start walking, but then he glanced back to say something to her. "Make sure not to get kidnapped again, yeah?"

"I'll try and stay out of trouble," Kira said.

And then, just like that, the two warriors parted ways and the forest returned to silence.

Sozin would go on to pay his debt. That was the last time he thought he would ever see that woman again, but the strings of fate were bound to cross. Later down the line, Kira couldn't help but notice the sizeable X marking the location of something on the map he had given her. She had a good idea of what it was and who she was going to see again when she got there. She would have to, as her problems had only gotten worse, and she had found herself in need of the services of a shinobi.


	11. The Sands of Life

Drifting...

Sometimes he felt like he was just drifting through life.

Sozin laid belly down and sprawled out on the futon in his bedroom, his miserably despondent face splayed off the side of a pillow spotted with tears. He hated thinking about his life, or rather, how empty and meaningless it was in retrospect. Could it even be considered a life at all? As much as he hated to wallow in his own self-pity, Sozin couldn't help but end up feeling like he was forced to do it. Every now and then, the feelings he hated to be reminded of so much were shoved in his face at the most unexpected of times. If the cause didn't happen to be nothing but a nasty, spontaneous thought in his own head slithering by, it was always something else, something small that would trigger it—maybe the sight of someone laughing, or a couple kissing, or even just the sight of someone smiling in another person's direction.

Happiness...

It seemed so far out of reach.

Afterwards, whenever he couldn't suppress the bitter and sad emotions that would foam and froth to the surface, he would find himself in this strange and lethargic state of mind where he wouldn't know what to do with himself anymore. He just wanted to curl up into a ball and cry. He would never admit it to anyone even if he actually had friends, and he didn't, but times like these were part of the reason he liked working in spurts, doing big jobs and making big money so that if the dark clouds that made him feel this way decided to swoop over him again, he wouldn't have to leave the house to do anything stressful because his responsibilities were already taken care of. He probably wouldn't be able to get up anyway even if he wanted to or needed to. It would get so bad at times that he couldn't find it in him to stand up and get himself a glass of water. He would wait until he was so dehydrated that he hated the feeling of being thirsty more than the idea of having to get up. It was the same with food. Why bother trying to stomach a mouthful? The weight upon his shoulders told him to just lie down and rot.

Sinking...

Sometimes he felt like he was sinking in life.

This was his reality and he was living it, being dragged down lower and lower into the deep because of things he had no control over. It wasn't his fault he was born into the family that he was and raised as a disgrace. It wasn't his fault that he wasn't born right for everyone else. And it wasn't his fault that he has to suffer for these things—for being only what he was and not what he should be.

So why did it hurt so bad then?

What was wrong with him? Where was the sand that everyone else was standing on?

It always seemed to slip through his fingers. There was nothing he could do about it. He would just have to wait until the storm passed and he could function again like a normal human being. He must be mentally ill or something, but things weren't always like this. Why did they have to be like this? Why did he always have to dread dragging his feet out of bed? The energy to live was nowhere to be found.

It was tough, but Wolf was always there to watch over and cope with Sozin. As an older and animal version of the man, Wolf understood Sozin's struggles better than probably even Sozin himself did. Many times, rather than moping, they would laugh and joke as a way of hiding their shared despair, but typically, no words were ever spoken or needed between them. They were quiet as they both understood the value and pleasure in simply enjoying one another's company in silence. Occasionally, they would talk, however. Even argue when things got as bad as they did.

"I don't understand, Wolf..." Sozin said from the rock he sat upon. Somehow, he'd managed to drag himself out here at the behest of his brother. They were sitting outside in the forest on a warm, sunny day.

Pensively, Sozin rested his chin on his fist as he kept his eyes in the trees, a brooding philosopher of some sort. Not too far from him, a graceful male robin was alighting onto a nest in the branches where his partner was tending to a cluster of budding eggs. He could see it everywhere he looked. He didn't have to look hard for it. It was like a ghost that haunted him and only served to jeer and gibe at every possible opportunity.

"Understand what?" Wolf asked. He was sitting next to Sozin in the real world. They had just gone for a run, something Wolf did with him mainly so the man wouldn't get lazy but also to keep his mind off of things. To his surprise, humans had proven to be fairly good runners.

Sozin stared at the birds, a cold wistfulness frozen into his eyes. "The path. The path of the lone wolf... Haven't you ever wanted somebody else to have a life with?"

"Of course... But guys like you and me aren't meant to be with anyone," Wolf said. "Friend or partner..."

Sozin buried his face in his hands and dragged them down like he was trying to take off a mask. "If I'm not supposed to be with anyone, then why do I have these urges and desires? If this is my destiny, why do I feel like I'm suffering by taking it? I don't want this to be my destiny!" Sozin's anger dissipated into despair. "I feel like I'm drowning in the silence I always come home to..."

Wolf's eyes remained harsh and uncompromising. "I've told you, maybe your destiny is to suffer. This is who you are, Sozin. None of us get to pick our destiny, so you just have to deal with it. Just ignore your loneliness."

"Just ignore it?" Sozin snapped in disbelief. "No, Wolf, no!" he said, raising his voice in boiling anger. "I'm tired of ignoring it! This isn't who I am! How can it be? How can I ignore something that is a fundamental part of being human?"

"Brother..." Wolf sighed, his head falling with a shake. "It isn't who you are but it's who the world wants you to be. That is the meaning of destiny."

"Wanting to socialize, wanting to be accepted, to have friends, and to be loved—that's what it means to be human, and I'm tired of pretending that it isn't! You told me it would get better with time!" Sozin began to mutter with a curl in his lip. "But it hasn't... at all... It just festers..."

"You haven't been alive long enough. Give it more time, and things will get better," Wolf said.

"Time isn't what I need! What will time give me that it already hasn't? You're telling me that years from now, suddenly my loneliness is going to disappear just like that?" Sozin raged, standing up from the rock with his arms flared out. He paced around like a maniac. "No! No, that's not going to happen!"

"The loneliness will never go away no matter what you do," Wolf said, remaining stoic and devout. "But I've been around for a long time, brother. Eventually, I stopped worrying about the things that I wouldn't be able to change. So I just accepted them..."

Sozin gave a few broken laughs, a grimace on his face, grinning in sad disbelief. His head shuddered back and forth in stark disagreement. "Is that really what you call 'better'?" he said with pure contempt. "Having a problem that you have no control over is better to you if you just accept it?"

"You know, finding a partner or a friend won't solve all your problems," Wolf said.

"And coffee won't make my stomach full," Sozin retorted, plopping back down onto the rock. He threw his arms out in front of him and gestured as he spoke. "But that's not why people drink it, is it? They drink it so they can have the energy to carry on with their lives. And right now... I don't think I have any."

With those words, Sozin reached for the knife holstered at his waist. He closed his eyes and dragged the flat of the blade against the side of his head.

Wolf's expression softened and his eyes crinkled in sadness. "Please, brother. Don't do that..."

"What does it matter anymore?" Sozin murmured, his voice feeble and empty.

"I know it's not my decision to make. I don't shoulder your burdens, but please, take a moment to reconsider..." Wolf said.

"I've tried, Wolf... I'm really trying, but don't you see?" Sozin said weakly. "This is my reconsideration..."

Wolf pressed his lips together tightly. "I'm begging you, Sozin... You're the only friend I truly have..."

Sozin blinked, choosing not to say anything. He simply brought the knife to his neck. Wolf turned away and shut his eyes tight, waiting for the sound of death to meet his ears, but it never came. When Wolf opened his eyes again, he saw Sozin taking in a tremulous breath with water tracing down his scarred cheek. The man broke down, dropping the knife into the grass and crumpling forward into his own lap with his hands interlaced on the back of his cowering head.

"I hate my life, Wolf..." Sozin cried tremulously. He didn't want to live, but he didn't want to die either. It was enough to make him feel like a trapped animal.

"I know, brother... I know..." Wolf said, staring at the ground as though the answers were all just written there.

Wolf listened to the man's whimpers and cries for the rest of that evening. The walk home was a terribly quiet one.


	12. Darkening Winds

he road to greatness was paved with obsession.

All great men had this in common and Sozin knew it too. He could not think of a single great man who didn't have an obsession of some sort, and so, from within all that darkness inside Sozin's soul came a spark, and he came out of his depressive bout with a new and vitriolic motivation in his heart. A black fire that burned with rage and hatred at such a magnitude that he had never experienced it ever before. He had hit rock bottom, and the only way to go from there was up. Sozin had been denied many things in his life. He had been denied everything a human being deserved to have and experience, but now, he was going to correct that injustice as he had corrected his master's and ensure he could always have what he wanted, no matter what anyone else thought. He had been chained down and subjected to the will of others in the past because he was weak. He wasn't powerful. The weak were always at the mercy of the strong, even if given permission within which they could act. But permission was just that—permission and nothing more if the interests of the two parties didn't happen to align.

Sozin couldn't help but think about that. What was power then if not freedom? True and absolute freedom that few men could ever and have ever achieved in this world. The freest man was always the most powerful one as far as he could tell. Men who possessed some level of power always seemed to fight so hard to maintain it because they didn't want to know what it felt like to not be free again. To be less free than they already were. It was a hierarchy of the most important degree, and that was something to aspire to be at the top of. That was what it meant to be a truly free man.

A psychotic grit began to shroud Sozin's eyes in the days to come. He could see it whenever he looked in the mirror at his ever-changing physique. He still had room to grow, like a weapon that could be sharpened into a finer upon finer point. Whenever he thought he had reached the peak of his performance, there was always some boundary that could be pushed even further beyond, and if there was anything he was sure of now, it was that he was going to grind every ounce of goddamn potential out of this prison of flesh and bone that he was confined to even if it broke him. It would become an elegant instrument of the most refined kind, a tool for the pure and unadulterated ambition that had taken over his psyche and reached every corner and facet of his thoughts and concerns.

This was his obsession.

One all his own...

He would not be denied his obsession. No one would take or deny that from him as they had taken and denied everything else.

With all the pain he'd endured up to this point, there was no real purpose he could possibly fathom for his cruel existence other than being a door mat for others. That simply wouldn't do. He had to make one up himself. And so he trained like an animal. Relentless. Cold and calculating as any man ought to be when he went to work and wanted to get things done. Sozin trained until his very bones began to crack. Until the raw of his knuckles and shins began to bleed and scar against the jagged bark of hardwood trees, toughening as his mind had under the weight of his own suffering. Until he grit his teeth and clenched his jaw from the sheer pain his body was in after a long and brutal day. Until his very muscles began to feel like steel cable whenever he flexed and his bones as though they were pure iron, protecting his fragile insides and granting him superior speed, strength, and durability upon which to build the techniques of death and destruction that would define him as a warrior.

Sozin no longer allowed himself any sort of respite other than sleep, but if could've avoided it, he would've stopped sleeping as well. Obsession, if it was to be done properly, demanded severe discipline and he could not compromise. He adhered to a strict diet that would allow him to build the man he wanted to become. The man that he needed to become if he was going to have any hope of achieving the freedom he so desperately desired.

Proud and strong, Sozin leered in silent admiration at his sinewy reflection in the mirror. He grinded his clenched fist into his open palm. "Those who demonstrate devotion are often rewarded for their time..." he murmured in dark satisfaction. "But those who demonstrate obsession will find their enemies falling behind every step of the way."

It took an obsessed man to go where no one else would. At every turn and every corner, the beast deep inside Sozin that fueled his efforts screamed to get out and threatened to frustrate his plans. By itself, rage was a brutish and crude emotion—it was brash, reckless, and imprecise, but it could be refined and concentrated with the right guidance, it's impurities being removed in the process into a higher form of emotion. Wolf's counsel proved useful here. Through sheer willpower and meditation alone, Sozin channeled that rage into something useful, tempering its wild and hot nature like light into a focused beam. The result was something that cut like a blade but hit like a sledgehammer. It's power was invigorating. Galvanizing to the highest degree while still allowing him to maintain control. There was simply no greater weapon to speak of than that of the mind and the emotions, and he would abuse it in his favor rather than just let it crush him as it had before.

It was for that reason that Sozin tried to take good care of his mental health as often as he could. Despite not being a religious man, from that point on, he started to take meditation and prayer with more than just a grain of salt. Even if he didn't buy into the efficacy of prayer and the therapeutic effects of meditation entirely, it seemed to be working for him at least as a placebo. He was also no stranger to meditation in the first place, and as something familiar, it was easy for him to turn to that as a solution to his psychological problems. Ikijo had instilled the habits and methods for training the mind into him long ago, but until recently, Sozin's doubts meant that he would practice it every now and then only as a way to honor his fallen master. He had never really seen a reason to make it a significant part of his life before, but now, it seems, his master was all too right in teaching him more than just physical skills. They were paying off in ways that he couldn't have imagined.

But it wasn't just about mental health. It was only right for Sozin to carry on his master's legacy by following the traditions that Ikijo had anyway, so he would meditate, cross-legged and palms together, in front of a small Buddha idol as his master had done countless times. Sozin had retrieved from the idol from Ikijo's home after returning to bury him years ago. Prayer was the main purpose of the idol but meditation was also another use of it since it was a sacred object that dispelled any traces of bad energy, and as a natural consequence, that made thinking relatively peaceful and easy in its presence, even for someone like Sozin.

When Sozin meditated, he would light a fire atop the hands of Buddha which were cupped together above the idol's head and use the sapphire blue flames of Moujin crystals to help calm his corrupted mind, sometimes practicing his firebending in a relaxing way by turning the fire into orbs and manipulating them around the idol like they were mental stress balls. Moujin was always pleasant to use. Since the crystal was naturally pure, it burned differently from other kinds of fire and felt soothing to handle, both mentally in the mind and physically in one's hand, unlike regular fire which seemed to rage and grow carelessly, consuming anything in its path, no different from his own thoughts and thus uncomforting. Sozin supposed that rage and visceral hatred was part of the reason he was so good at firebending but also why couldn't create lightning for the life of him.

Not only did meditation heal the mind, but it also presented an opportunity for Sozin to train as he couldn't always hone his techniques in the real world. Being the lone wolf had its fair share of disadvantages. Sozin's lack of a sparring partner to practice with often meant that he had to train by himself which wasn't always possible nor ideal with certain techniques. At times, he was forced train in his mind in the spirit realm which was the only place where Wolf could take on a more human form for him and act as an opponent. The only problem with training in the spirit realm was that it was exhausting to put so much mental effort into being there. Since anything beyond just talking or walking around was difficult to maintain, training sessions always ended up being short and suboptimal. Sozin made up for his less than ideal training circumstances by training relentlessly and resting as much as possible.

Training was something that gave Sozin strength which only furthered his progress in the quest for true freedom. He was devout in it like he was with nothing else. As Wolf had told Sozin about his own species, wolves were naturally devoted creatures and fiercely loyal to their pack, but as the lone wolf without any pack to be loyal to, that loyalty had nowhere to be channeled. What was he to do with it then? Loyalty was the cornerstone of any wolf spirit's life, so Sozin had to find something else to place that loyalty in. That loyalty ended up being put towards training. Betrayal was the ultimate insult to the lone wolf, so Sozin took pride in the fact that he knew his training would never betray him, no matter what. It was one of the few truly reliable gifts in his arsenal, and he was proud he could say that it belonged to him.

For the next couple of months, all of this had become Sozin's life. Outside of work, he hadn't seen much in the way of another person until one fateful morning when he heard a knock on his door in the middle of the day.

Sozin had been in bed taking a nap when the sound came clear and crisp, reverberating throughout the manor. He cracked open his eyes. Three hard knocks coming from the front door. The knocks weren't something he heard often, but they were impossible to mistake for anything else. He didn't have any friends. What reason could someone possibly have for bothering a loner like him?

The man dragged himself out of the bed, slipped on plain robes and a pair of waraji, sauntered down the stairs, through the hallway, past the kitchen, and all the way to the front door as whoever it was knocked on the door a few more times. The manor was fairly expansive. In the past few years, he'd done a lot of terrible things to terrible people to make enough money to actually purchase it, but sometimes, that didn't seem like it was such a good thing. Whenever he was depressed, all the rooms and space he had to get through made his heavy limbs feel like they were trying to travel across the world just so he could get something to eat.

Sozin managed to make it to the front door. He lifted up the wooden bar locking it closed and pulled it ajar so that there was just enough of an opening to peek through.

"Hello?" Sozin murmured. He spoke with a depressive softness in his voice that was pleasantly sad and soothing to the ears. The only difference this time was the stoic gaze that had been hardened into his eyes. She didn't remember that being on his face the last time she'd seen him.

Kira's orange eyes looked up from under her bamboo hat at the man peeking through the crack in the door. A chunk of the downwards-projecting brim at the front of the hat had been torn out so that she could see. "Hi..." she said laconically. Her lips fiddled with the thin, red pipe in her mouth.

Sozin recognized the woman immediately when his gaze fell upon her. She had a distinct face that was almost impossible to forget. "Hmm..." he grumbled in contemplation as his muscles relaxed. "Kira, wasn't it?" Bewildered, but feeling a bit more comfortable now that he knew who he was talking to, Sozin opened the door completely with a creak. "What are you doing here?"

The small blaze at the end of Kira's pipe quietly sizzled like firecracker and billowed a rivulet of smoke. With a lazy, half-lidded expression, she took a puff from it before pulling it out of her mouth with two dignified fingers and blowing. "Doesn't sound like you were expecting to see me," she said in that mellow voice of hers.

"Yeah..." Sozin scratched the whiskers on his chin. As a young man, he was only beginning to develop a beard. "I don't recall telling you where I live..."

"You're probably wondering how I found out... Well..." Kira reached into her loose-fitting robes, revealing some of the linen wraps that covered her otherwise bare chest. She pulled out the map that Sozin had given her and handed it to him. "Remember that?" she pointed discreetly. "You kind of marked where you live on there."

Sozin didn't say anything. He merely stared down at the map in his hands and then glanced back at Kira with a wordless expression.

"I know this is rather strange, but believe me, I wouldn't have just barged in like this if I could've avoided it. I didn't really have much of a choice, so I came to talk business," Kira said.

"Business, huh?"

"Do you mind if I come in?"

Sozin let out a thoughtful snort. He cast the woman a scrutinizing gaze for a moment before deciding to relent. "Sure..." he said as he stepped aside, then grumbling, "Not like I get a lot of visitors anyway."

Kira stepped into the hallway. The manor looked just as grand on the outside as it did on the inside. For a young guy, he was doing awfully well for himself. "Nice place you've got here."

"Thanks... I'm a pretty humble person if you couldn't already tell," Sozin said dryly. He heard Kira let out a chuckle as he led them into the large kitchen. The kitchen was traditional in style with an irori in the corner where it was out of the way for cooking and a low table in the center with cushions around it. Sozin drifted over to the sink where he'd gotten a manual pump installed that took from the well outside. A variety of cutlery and cooking utensils hung against the wall above the counter. "Would you like some water?" Sozin asked.

"No, I'm fine." Kira put up a hand across from him. "Thank you though..."

"So, what brings you to my humble abode?" Sozin crossed his arms and leaned against the counter. "Something tells me that this isn't a social visit."

"Are you busy by any chance?"

Sozin sniffled and ran his finger across the underside of his nose. "Not with anything important."

"Good, because I have a proposition I'd like to make." Kira planted a hand on her hip while the other gestured outwards towards Sozin. "I was wondering if you could take care of a certain problem for me."

"What kind of problem?"

"You're familiar with Talro Hirata, aren't you?"

"I don't know him personally, but I worked for him when he hired me to capture you. That's about it, pretty much."

"His son, Takeda..." Kira said. "The man just won't take no for an answer. He's obsessed with me and keeps sending emissaries to get me back. No matter how many I kill, he just won't give up. If I could handle this problem myself, believe me, I would've, but Takeda is heir to the family throne and has his entire clan at his disposal. I can't exactly march up to his palace and deal with him on my own."

Sozin inspected his unkempt nails. With another person in the room, he was more self-conscious than usual. Turning to Kira, his hand fell back down to his side, and he said, "I'm guessing you want me to kill him?"

"Yeah..." Kira said. "Can you do that for me? I don't know any other ninja, and this problem requires a more... surgical approach than I can provide."

"That depends..." Sozin raised his hand and ran his thumb across his fingers in a gesture for money. "How much are you willing to pay?"

"I'm only a vagabond—I don't really have that much money. A thousand sen is all I have."

"One senarii?" Sozin chuckled. "That's quite a task you have for me," he reminded her. "The Hiratas are a high-ranking family. For a job like that, it's going to cost you one-hundred."

"One-hundred senarii?" Kira exclaimed in disbelief. Her voice hesitated as astonishment built behind the brim of her bamboo hat. "I don't have that kind of money."

"Then I'm afraid I can't do the job," Sozin said with indifference. "It's too dangerous otherwise for what I'm getting out of it."

"Is it really?" Kira said. "You got in and out before to help me escape. Can't you just do that again and kill Takeda?"

"It's not that simple, Kira. I was taking a big risk doing that for you."

"Listen, I travel a lot and work as a bodyguard wherever I can. With the war going on, surely you can understand how hard it is to get by doing an honest job these days?"

"You're preaching to the choir. Believe me, I know all too well how hard it can be to just to squeeze out a decent living." Sozin thought back to how people had treated him when he was homeless.

"Can't you make an exception then? I haven't had a peaceful night of sleep in months."

"No..." Sozin shook his head lightly. "I already did that when I smuggled you out of Talro's palace."

Kira let out a flustered huff. Her arms floundered at her sides. "Seriously?" she muttered with a crestfallen face.

"Seriously..."

"Okay, I don't have all the money currently, but what if I paid you overtime. In increments?"

"If the job has to be taken care of now—and it kind of sounds like it does— then you'd need to give me your word that you'll pay me back. Frankly, I don't think that's going to work."

"Why not? You don't trust me?"

"Yeah, I dont..." Sozin said curtly. "I'm sorry, Kira, but I don't know you."

"Does that matter?" Kira said. "Do I really look like a bad person?"

"You look like an angel, but looks can be deceiving. You might just hang me out to dry once I've done the deed. As someone whose had that happen to them before, surely you can understand that on my end, generosity isn't always the wisest choice."

Kira sighed. "There's gotta be something that-"

Just then, there was the sound of something whistling through the air for a split second. The sound was followed by a flaming arrow bursting through one of the kitchen's paper windows and landing right at the tip of Sozin's waraji, nearly taking off his big toe.

Kira gasped and Sozin reeled back in surprise.

"Whoa! What the fuck?" he exclaimed. "Who the hell shot that?" Sozin glanced to the doorway and then to the arrow. His foot was eager to move, but the bundle of tow—coarse, broken fibers— tied just below the arrowhead had been soaked in oil and would burn continuously even if he tried stomp the flames out. He would only hurt himself. Turning to Kira, Sozin spat out frantically, "Kira, put the flames out with some water from the sink! There's cups in the cabinet!" he motioned. "Don't try to stomp it out!"

Sozin bolted out of the kitchen and into the hallway. He threw open the front door and stopped just outside of the doorway.

A flurry of thuds met his ears. It was the sound of pounding hooves against the dirt and it was growing louder by the second.

"You gotta be kidding me..." he said under his breath.

Not too far away, a group of Tamuran cavalry was kicking up a storm of dust as they stampeded their way up the road into his property—a large clearing that housed the full extent of his manor.

"Can you hear me, Ishidan vermin?" the samurai at the helm of the charge thundered as his unit made their way up. "Miura will be united once more! As I breathe, you will not escape here alive! For Tamura!" he drawled in a cry of war.

Sozin's eyes flared. There were several of them, and they were well-armed with spears, bows, and katana. Even worse, it looked like they had spotted him and were heading straight for the lone man with a look of pure bloodlust in their eyes.

A few arrows scattered close by, embedding themselves in the dirt. Without his weapon, Sozin darted back inside to take cover. He slammed the front door shut and threw the wooden bar down to lock it closed. "Want to ruin my day? Come and get it then, you fucks..." he said in dark intensity.

Sozin returned to the kitchen with a calm in his step. By the time he returned, Kira had just finished putting the fire out with a splash.

"What's going on? Bandits?" Kira set the ceramic cup in her hand on the table and turned to Sozin.

"No..." Sozin said with no particular alarm. "The Tamuran army has come to kill us..."

"What?"

Sozin glanced at the twin blades by Kira's hip. "Just get your swords out and make sure the other door is locked. There's another one in the back. I need to go get my own."

Sozin ran upstairs as the orchestra of pounding of hooves came to a deathly stop just outside the manor. Despite being clad in mere robes, he had no time to put on his shinobi gear from where it rested in the wardrobe, so all he ended up grabbing was his master's katana. As the samurai began to pound on the front and back doors, cursing and hollering for them to come out like a raging mob, he ran back down where Kira was waiting for him in the hallway.

Kira gave a worried glance over her shoulder at the front door. "Sounds like the war's finally reached Komasu."

"Unfortunately..." Sozin said in a low voice. "I didn't think it would get this far. Now my home is in danger—can you believe that? I guess that's the price I pay for being imprudent."

"Don't worry," Kira said. "Doesn't sound like there are too many of them. We can take this fight right here in the hallway where their numbers advantage is meaningless."

Sozin narrowed his eyes behind Kira at the incessant pounding coming from the door. The door was heavy and reinforced, but they were trying to kick it down one blow at a time. "Where soldiers walk, an army follows. We need to take care of this and get out of here asap."

"Okay..." Kira said as she turned to face the front door. "I'll watch this end of the hallway, you watch the other."

_Thump..._

_Thump..._

_Thump..._

The first door at the front finally broke down and then the second came right after from the other side of the manor. The heavy wooden doors slammed into the ground with a defeaning clap as they were ripped off their iron hinges and thrown forward by the force of the kicks.

The samurai rushed in behind one another from both ends of the manor. As part of the upper-class, they were more skilled than common footsoldiers, possessing quality body armor—expensive and elaborate—that was colored in Tamuran reds and blacks as opposed to the purples and blacks of the Ishidan military. Unlike ashigaru, they were nobility, and as nobility, were valued and expected to survive in battle, so the armor itself was extensive, covering them entirely from head to toe.

Sozin glanced behind him. The two warriors' backs faced each other. It seems they were in this together even if they hadn't been earlier. He couldn't see any samurai on his end yet, but Kira was already fending off the first man that came charging her way. His lack of enemies was quickly remedied as he found himself busy with several samurai that ran into the hallway a few moments later from the rear of the manor.

The hallway wasn't nearly wide enough for more than one person to engage them at a time which made grinding down the opposition an easy task. All Sozin could hear were air-shattering clashes going off behind him, but since he had fought Kira before, he trusted her to hold up her end of the line as he kept his focus in front of him and cleaved his way through several challengers. As a shinobi who liked to move around, part of Sozin didn't like the fact that he was confined by the hallway, but it was more of a nuisance than anything else. He hadn't been honing his swordplay for months on end to be made a mockery by the likes of a couple of grunts, even if they were samurai.

The walls of the manor reverberated with the exchange of blows and yelling Tamuran samurai. Kira's raw skill and twin blades proved to be deadly during the fight. Unlike her opposition, she struck with calm assurance, her gaze focused like the tip of a dagger. When she finished mopping up everyone on her side, she turned around to see that Sozin was still busy with one, last, stubborn man eager to die for his country. The hallway was too narrow for her to help him from her current position, so she stepped over the dead bodies and ran around through the kitchen to the other side. The samurai had been so focused on Sozin that he didn't notice Kira disappear, but then he sensed a presence behind him, and a look of suprise flickered across his face. This moment was long enough to distract the samurai. Sozin knocked the samurai's sword aside with a slash and delivered a deathblow straight through his neck.

The last samurai collapsed to the ground with a conclusive thud.

"Thanks for distracting him," Sozin said as he sheathed his katana. "He was giving me a little bit of trouble."

"I saw that..." Kira sheathed her twin katanas as well. She chuckled, her mouth sliding into a smug grin. "You're swordplay has gotten better, but it's still atrocious."

"Atrocious?" Sozin's face crinkled in aversion. "Remind me again... Who was it that captured you?"

Kira dismissed him with a wave of her hand. "Oh, please. Don't brag. We both know it was a miracle you won that fight." Kira paused, raising her finger. "But..." she said with an enticing smirk, "I could... I don't know... show you a few tricks... if... you kill Takeda for me."

Sozin let out a short laugh. "That's your offer now? You're a real sly fox, you know that? I've never been paid in anything other than money before."

"I'm serious—I'm not trying to con you. As they say, there's a first time for everything," Kira said.

"Maybe I'll consider your offer later, but first things first, we should get out of here while we still can." Sozin glanced to the dead bodies and pools of blood that littered the hallway of his manor now. "Their horses are outside. We can use them to escape."

Kira snorted. "As you wish..."

Outside of the manor was a messy array of warhorses that the samurai had left behind. Their bodies were draped in a blanket of mail that provided some basic protection from the dangers of the battlefield. Bulky and strong, the horses were a bit restless but obediently stood in place as they had been trained to, mindlessly stamping their hooves into the dirt as they awaited the return of their masters. At the sight of two unfamiliar faces walking out of the manor, the horses whinnied and neighed, seeming reluctant to have a pair of strangers grasping so boldly at the reins and settling their feet into the stirrups, but they relented and didn't run off.

Kira gave her horse a few gentle pats. "Easy..." she said softly.

"You know how to ride a horse?" Sozin asked across from her on his own steed.

"All samurai do," Kira said. "What about you?"

"Most shinobi learn how to but for different reasons than samurai. It can come in handy when you need to make a quick escape—kinda like right now—but I prefer to walk."

"Heh... I can see why you're a shinobi then."

"I think it suits me..." Sozin settled into his leather saddle and gripped the reins tighter. "All right, ah... Let's not stick around. We should go."

Kira looked to the sky just as they were about to ride off. Her orange eyes narrowed. Far in the distance, above the forest canopy, she saw many plumes of smoke rising high into the blue sky, thick and dark with the stench of death. Gunfire from matchlocks could be heard, but they rung out short and quick, dissipating as little other than a flash in the pan. It was the sound of sporadic cannonfire that caught her attention. It boomed out into the air—long, low, and deep like a growl of war—punctuating the gunshots and dying with a lingering bellow as it echoed out across the land. The lingering boom was relaxing and beautiful in some strange and morbid way, but then Kira remembered that those were the sounds of people dying. "Wait," she said with concern. "What about Komasu?"

"The garrison isn't enough," Sozin shrugged. "Komasu will fall, and a couple of ragtags like us aren't going to change the tide of battle. Why bother trying to catch a falling knife?"

"We don't have to save Komasu, but we've got these horses. We should head over there and at least try and save whoever we can."

"Are you crazy?"

Kira cast Sozin a disparaging glance before turning ahead. "I'm asking you for help, but there's no time to argue about it. If you're not going to go, then I am." True to her word, at that very moment, she commanded her horse into a jump-start and took off.

Sozin scrunched his brooding eyes as he watched her ride off the property. At first, he didn't know which part of him it was exactly, but something felt like he was making the wrong choice. Then he realized it was his heart, and the heart and mind often disagreed. If he was being honest with himself, he knew he was an asshole that hated people, but regardless of what his rationality was saying, his knee-jerk reaction wasn't to be cold-blooded. Apparently, there was still a warm remnant from when he was young and the kindness hadn't been grinded out of him yet. Damn it, he cursed in his head. The two selves—new and the old—to Sozin's dismay, often found themselves at odds with each other. Was he really going to chase this woman? He dithered in place for a moment before squeezing his thighs and kicking his own horse into action. "Hey!" he yelled. "Wait up!"

Sozin shook his head. He usually sided with his mind more than he did his heart these days since it kept him from getting hurt, a preference that life itself had instilled into him, but the woman was a tie-breaker he hadn't expected. All the way from the outskirts of town where Sozin's manor was, they rode into Komasu using the main road. Townsfolk ran past in the opposite direction. The air bubbled and popped with clamor from people as they fled the Tamurans descending upon the settlement. The town was fairly sizeable, but it was simply a matter of time before all of it was taken and the town was razed to the ground.

Distant flames and plumes of smoke blown by the wind continued to build as more and more buildings ignited on the other side of town from arrows and torches. In the chaos flowing through the streets of Komasu, mothers wept as they searched frantically for missing children. Those who weren't busy running away were trying to salvage their belongings by stuffing them into burlap sacks or scrambling around for loved ones with yells and shouts. Sozin spied one particular family that happened to own a pair of horses cramming their wagon with any valuables they could manage.

Captivated, Sozin turned to the darkening sky streaked with soot. This was the first time he'd ever seen the effects of war firsthand, not afterwards but as it was happening. Until now, his only experiences had been through tales of valor or the news. It was different in person, and with a glance, Kira seemed to be taking it the same way. He fully understood the sense of hopelessness that tended to grip people in the face of impending doom. The Tamuran army would soon erase any memory of their life here.

Sozin gazed on pensively from the saddle of his horse. "How chaotic..." he murmured.

Holding her pipe between her fingers, Kira raised her voice above the commotion. "We have to do something," she said. They'd reared their horses to a stop on the side of the street, out of the way from churning townsfolk.

"What do you suggest?"

"Why don't we start by taking two villagers out at a time? Then we can come back for more."

"There won't be enough time to drop them off in a safe place and then come back. Are you comfortable only saving two?"

Kira's eyes creased in painful sympathy as she stared into the street at some of the hopeless people. It wasn't so long ago that she was in their position. "As long as it's more than no one at all," she spoke up after a pause.

Sozin glanced back to the family tending to their wagon. "I think we can do better. Why don't we find an empty wagon and hitch our horses to it? Komasu is a trading hub—there's gotta be plenty of them around here."

"That's a smart idea," Kira smiled. She cast him a warm expression and nodded lightly. "I'm glad you came along."

Sozin turned away from her, not rude, but faintly aloof. "Don't thank me," he said. "It was a last minute decision..."

Splitting up, the pair went into action and scoured the streets and alleys looking for a wagon of some sort. Sozin went farther down near the center of town where the action was louder. Stray groups of ashigaru that had left the main force were wreaking havoc and slaughtering any stragglers in their path. To Sozin's disgust, whoever was in command of these soldiers had just unleashed them upon the city like a pack of wild dogs. Men fought against them like lions in the street with whatever they could to protect their families and loved ones. Sozin could see some Ishidan colors from the garrison mixed in amongst the Tamuran soldiers but they were severely outnumbered. It was hard for Sozin to see all those pockets of violence and just ride them by with little more than a glance or a passing slash from his katana. He wished he could do more to help everyone but ignored his inner feelings and remained composed. If he wanted to make a real difference, he needed stay focused on finding what he was looking for.

As luck would have it, Sozin soon spotted an empty wagon by a storefront that the violence was just beginning to engulf. The owner of the store, a short and stout middle-aged man with a pegleg, was in the middle of fending off one of Tamura's spearmen with a crude-looking blade. The man looked like he was in trouble, so Sozin made a quick pass on his horse, cutting at the soldier's back just as he had found an opening in the shopkeeper's defense. The soldier let out a gasp and reached behind him at the cut. He collapsed onto his knees, dropping his yari with a clatter and then hitting the ground face first. Realizing it was over, the bewildered man let go of his weapon too and lowered down, trying to catch his breath.

The man glanced up at Sozin as he came back around and reared his horse. "Thank you... Don't know why I bothered trying. I'm not the fighter I used to be," he huffed.

"You're a veteran?" Sozin said as he spied the man's leg. Commotion and chaos continued to run wild around them.

"Sure am, even if I don't look like it anymore. This war's been going on for so long that it's coming back to finish me off." The man brandished his pegleg.

"Shouldn't you be running like everyone else instead of trying to relive the glory days?" Sozin asked.

The man laughed between his breaths. He rose up into a stand. "Yes, that'd be the smart thing for me to do, wouldn't it? Won't be long for me. Half the town's already gone by the looks of that smoke over there."

"Leg injuries are pretty common amongst sailors..." Sozin said.

"Indeed. I used to be a captain in the navy until I lost my ankle to an arrow."

"I suppose you've decided to go down with the ship then?"

"It wasn't my plan," the man said. "I would've left, but some ruffians stole my horses as soon as the trouble started." He pointed to his horseless wagon. "It's a shame... I wanted to save some of my inventory. I would run now, but on a day like this, it isn't exactly the best time to be fat and out of shape."

"I see..." Sozin murmured with a hint of pity.

Confusion crossed the man's face. "What about you? You've got a horse and a mighty one by the looks of it. Why are you here?"

Sozin let out a long, tired sigh. "I honestly have no idea."

The sound of an approaching horse interrupted Sozin's thoughts. He glanced over and it was Kira riding up next to him. "Sozin!" she exclaimed as she reined her horse into a stop. "I was looking everywhere for you."

"Hey, Kira," Sozin said flatly.

"I see you've found what we're looking for," she gestured with relief.

Sozin turned back to the shopkeeper. "Yeah, uh, do you mind if we use your wagon, mister? We can use it to help get you and others out of here. Not like you're gonna need it anymore, right?"

"Sure, but you're gonna have to get those horses hitched up first if you want to do anything." The shopkeeper grabbed Sozin's horse by the leather straps around its muzzle and began to lead it to the wagon. "I'm getting old, but I'm not feeble. Let me help you."

A loud crash shot through Sozin's ears as a cannonball exploded through the adjacent building and sent wood splintering into the street. Sozin nearly had his bones jump out of him. His horse stopped in its tracks, and Kira's head snapped towards the explosion like a frightened woodland creature. With how close the shot was, their horses whined and whinnied, shuffling about. For a brief moment, Sozin thought his horse was about to throw him off, turn tail, and run just like everyone else, but it seemed to calm down. The horse had been bred for war and as more-accustomed to the throes of battle. Certainly a lot braver than many men were.

"I'm no stranger to cannon fire," the shopkeeper said with a jaded expression.

Kira chuckled nervously. "That's a bit too close for comfort if you ask me."

Sozin peered into the giant hole that had just been smashed into the building next to them. "I agree—this is starting to get serious. I don't think we'll be able to stay here much longer. Now would be a good time to start rounding up some people, Kira." Sozin dismounted from his horse so the shopkeeper could finish leading it to the wagon. "Can you take care of this in the meantime?" he said, turning to the older gentleman.

"Yes, yes, don't worry about me," the man said, waving them off. "You do what you have to."

Kira slid off her horse. Catching Sozin's attention, she motioned with her head, saying, "I'll gather whoever I can down the street. You stay here and keep company."

"Be careful," Sozin said." That's where all the commotion is coming from."

Kira nodded. Running down the cluttered street, she blustered past people scrambling in the other direction. Her geta sandals clacked with every step. "Hey!" she yelled, waving her arms as she came to a stop. "We have horses—come with me and I can get you out of here!" she shouted into the chaotic crowd.

Her words fizzled into the air.

Everyone just kept running or clamoring about. Any semblance of order was in shambles and no one wanted to pay any mind to reasonable thought.

Kira shouted once more and again to no avail. She kept trying, but her words were being drowned out amongst all the screaming and yelling and emotion, and even if they could hear her past all of that, everyone was all over the place and none of them wanted to listen, too occupied with their own fright and safety to care much about anything else.

Kira sighed in frustration. Her thoughts were racing at a thousand miles per minute. It was like they were deaf and couldn't see the solution to their problems right in front of them. Maybe Sozin was right, and it was a bad idea to come here. How was she supposed to help people if they didn't want to listen to her?

From the spirit realm, Vesper spoke into Kira's ear. "You're still learning..." she said. "May I make a suggestion?"

"Go ahead, Vixen. I'm not sure what else I can do here," Kira said.

"There's a lot of mass hysteria. Try talking to one person at a time. It's always easier to speak to an individual than it is to a crowd," Vixen said. "Go for the younger people—they're usually looking for some sort of guidance."

As if on cue, Kira spotted a skinny young man in his teens that was just about to blow right past her. "Hey! Hey, wait, wait!" Kira exclaimed. She got in front of him and grabbed him by the shoulders.

The young teenager collided into her grip. "What?" he sputtered out in a panic, his head jittering around and then turning to her. "Are you mad? Let go of me—I need to get out of here!"

"Relax, you won't get very far running," Kira said in a more soothing voice. "You see that pair of horses way over there?" Keeping one comforting hand on the boy's shoulder, she pointed behind her. "Go to them. We're getting people out of here, and if you don't come with us, I can't guarantee your safety."

"You... You're an onna-bugeisha!" the boy realized with a glance to her weapons. "The Emperor must be desperate if he's conscripting women. Are you part of the garrison?"

"Yes," Kira lied.

"I didn't realize," the boy relented. "I'm sorry, I was just so scared. The Tamurans are coming this way."

Kira flashed the boy a soft smile. "It's fine... Just do as I say, and we'll get you out of here alive." Her smile quickly faded into solemn urgency and she ushered him along in the direction of the horses. "Now go!"

"O-okay," the man managed to get out, shaking in his feet. "It's good to see someone who knows what they're doing. Thank you."

A little less unnerved than he was before, the boy headed straight for the wagon. Kira did the same with others that she saw in the street. She talked to them one at a time, reassuring them that everything was going to be all right, and even lied if she had to, saying that there was an official evacuation effort being organized by the Ishidan military. Slowly but surely, the wagon began to fill up with more and more passengers. She had a dignified gentleness about her that seemed to reel people in and ease any anxiety or doubts that they had.

It wasn't long before it was time to go. Glancing back from a distance, Kira could see that the wagon looked like it was nearly full. That would've been uplifting news if it were not for the sudden uptick in screaming at that very moment. Not far ahead, Kira could see that the main force of the Tamuran army had already made its way here and were marching up the street, spilling out from behind the corner of an intersection. The soldiers were heading straight for them. At the front of the march, one soldier was holding up the Tamuran banner—black with a red symbol of a surging tsunami. Any soldiers that hadn't been ordered to run ahead and soften up the resistance were relegated to ransacking the buildings and setting them on fire.

Kira narrowed her eyes in disdain. She remembered being in a similar position as a child and stared straight ahead with a grim, steely-eyed look on her face. She reserved a special brand of hatred for men who followed orders so readily as these seemed to be doing. They slaughtered indiscriminately at the mere beck and call of their commander. Such men had taken one of the very few things that had ever truly mattered to her in life. This time, she was no longer a helpless child. She wanted to fight instead of running away. She could defend herself now and would've been ready to make a stand right then and there if she had to, but she remembered that Sozin was waiting for her.

Kira turned to run, a deep revulsion smearing across her face. In times like these, soldiers were often no different than bandits when it came down to it. Beasts that raped and pillaged with no concern for who they hurt.

A ways down, Sozin was at the helm of the wagon while the passengers sat in the back. There was enough room for two people in the front seat, but he sat on one side only, resting his arm over the spine of the spot where Kira was supposed to sit. The leather reins rested loosely in his other hand. Sozin slumped into the hard wood, trying to find a good way to sit. He imagined how much more comfortable it would be to sit down if he wasn't so lean and bony. Waiting patiently with a bored expression on his face, he'd already gotten used to the explosions, gunfire, and commotion that was really just plaguing his ears at this point.

There wasn't really much to do but wait for Kira to finish what she was doing. Just when he'd found the perfect way to sit, the shopkeeper from earlier knocked on the back of his seat.

"My friend, I don't mean to alarm you, but they're coming this way," the man said calmly. "We need to leave."

Looking over his shoulder, Sozin spotted the soldiers in the distance. In the wagon, he began to see a few faces amongst the assembled crowd start to grow worried at why they were still here, echoing the man's words. They looked at each other with fretful glances, wondering if they had made the right choice in deciding to wait rather than run.

Great, Sozin thought. Where is this woman?

"Not until-"

Kira came sprinting up from the side. "He's right!" she cut in as she climbed into the seat beside him. "Go! There's nothing else we can do!"

Sozin and the shopkeeper both cast Kira a surprised glance. With that, Sozin didn't waste any time and whipped the horses into action at a fast pace. Rumbling along, the wagon pulled away from the formation of soldiers marching down the street. The passengers couldn't help but watch and murmur as they passed by other stragglers—men, women, and children with no hope of what to do or how to save themselves from the army which would only run them down with horses once they were done razing the settlement. Soon, there were no screams nor the clamor of people yelling anymore, only the distant sound of booming cannonfire and ringing gunshots. They had managed to make it onto the main road without any further trouble, the smoke and fires of the burning town fading into the background.

It seemed now that the worst of their problems were behind them, but they weren't completely out of the woods yet. Being a cautious man, Sozin kept an eye out for any cavalry just in case they decided to show up. That was the only thing that could really complicate their plans. Nothing else was going to catch up to two warhorses pulling a wagon of people along like it was loaded with feathers. Looking around, he didn't see anything concerning—the Tamuran horsemen were probably busy taking care of those who'd chosen to flee on foot instead—but then he glanced off to the side, and what he did spot was a certain plume of smoke that wasn't supposed to be where it was.

His manor...

It was on fire.

The sight of it burning hit Sozin like a hammer blow and twisted his stomach into a knot. There were many homes on the outskirts of Komasu, but this one was dreadfully unmistakable. Sozin's eyes flared with emotion as he remembered his master's gear which was still in the wardrobe. Their picture was in the room and the Buddha idol as well. They were all he really cared about.

Squinting desperately through the brush, Sozin could tell that the entire manor had been completely engulfed by the blaze as they passed it by. He would've stopped the wagon right then and there and run into the flames in a heartbeat to save the very things he treasured so dearly, but nothing could be saved at this point. Another group of soldiers must've come across it and decided to do what the first could not.

Noticing him perk up, Kira shifted over to Sozin's side of the wagon and followed his frozen gaze. "Isn't that...?"

Sozin clenched his fist in darkening anger. "That's my home..."


	13. A Voyage Across the Ocean or Merely a Trip Down the River

A brisk chill ran throughout the darkened streets of Bakou—a sleepy, no-name village deep within Ishida and far from Komasu and the chaos plaguing the country's ever-changing borders. Amongst the buildings lining either side of the street, a small, hole in the wall, outdoor sushi restaurant harbored one lonely shinobi and a wandering samurai. Several hours had passed since the attack on Komasu had taken place, and the news had already spread like a wildfire. Bakou was the best place they could think of to drop off the people they'd helped rescue earlier, now refugees of war along with Sozin himself. There wasn't much the two warriors could do beyond getting the people somewhere safe, so they'd left them in the hands of Bakou's constable once they were beyond trouble's grip.

_Sushi rolls, sushi rolls..._ Sozin droned in his head.

Elbow on the counter, the man rested his cheek in the palm of his hand and sighed. A cold emptiness shrouded his face and kept him completely silent. He sat behind the counter amongst a row of empty seats all except for the one woman beside him. Staring at his food, a somber weight seemed to drag down his eyelids as he clumsily fiddled with the pair of chopsticks in his hands. With a few furtive glances to Kira's adept fingers, he occasionally tried to copy her finger movements and eat a few rolls himself, but he struggled to pick them up from the platter of sushi that dared to sit so boldly in front of him. Was he really that hungry anyway? His growling stomach thought so, but it seemed like such a chore to shovel all this food into his mouth. Somehow, he managed to work it out in his head that he was going to at least try and stomach one or two rolls since Kira had bothered to pay for them with her own money and because it would be rude not to do so. By some miracle, the first two rolls managed to get to his mouth in one piece without falling. He chewed slow and long like he just couldn't muster the strength to eat, but then, when he finally finished and went for a third roll and tried to dip it into some soy sauce, his fingers slipped, the roll dropped, and sauce splashed all over his face and clothes.

Sozin's fingers seized up in frustration. His eyes slammed to a violent shut as his head twisted to the side so Kira didn't have to see the anger bursting onto his face. Could at least one thing go right today? He felt like the vein in his head was about to pop from something so trivial, but then he froze, nostrils flaring, and turned back to stare with simmering eyes at the half-submerged sushi roll that he'd dropped without meaning to. He could hear his own angered snorts as they mixed in with the sound of bubbling water coming from the kitchen across the counter. Something so small... It was almost enough to push him over the edge with everything that he's had to process today.

"Can't use chopsticks?" an amused Kira chimed in lightly from beside him.

"No..." Sozin murmured. "Honestly, if I was eating by myself, I would've just used a fork."

"Why don't you? There's no need to be pretentious around me."

"Yeah, well..." Sozin's voice trailed off. He tried a few more pitiful times to pick up the sushi rolls in front of him as Kira watched with dismay. Sozin was about to try again when Kira put a gentle hand on his forearm.

Sozin stopped. He paused for a brief moment before turning to meet Kira's gaze with his own struggling one. Kira nodded silently as if to say that was enough, but Sozin merely gave a glum shrug. That didn't seem to dissuade her from whatever she had been planning to do, because before he could even realize or even stop her, she had already flagged down the single chef manning the kitchen and asked for a fork—not for him, but for herself like she was the one who needed it. She promptly passed Sozin the utensil when the chef wasn't looking.

Sozin's eyes fell upon the silverware that was now in his hands. Something caught inside of him like a match that had finally found a surface to strike up against, and his cold face seemed to warm up, if just a little bit. Of all the things she could've done, he certainly hadn't expected that course of action. "Could've just told him the truth," he said.

With pearly white teeth, Kira flashed Sozin a shameless grin. Her grin eased up into a smile that was almost too perfect and delicate for the world. "There was no need..." she said with a cheeky softness.

Sozin sniffled. "S'pose not..." he said as they exchanged gazes.

The man went back to eating, this time feeling a little more happier and less annoyed than before.

Kira's brows crinkled in amusement as she thought about something. She cast Sozin a sideways glance before turning back to her own food. "How is it that a man like you is capable of wielding a blade—albeit, pretty badly if I can be so bold as to say that—but not a pair of chopsticks?"

"Isn't it a little late to try and be polite?" Sozin murmured with a slight smile. "I believe the word you used earlier was 'atrocious'."

"I remember," Kira said. "But my question still stands..."

The humor tinging Sozin's weary face vanished as his eyes creased in pensive consideration. He mindlessly traced a knot in the wood of the counter with his finger. "I don't know..." he sighed. "Guess I just never learned. You might say I've missed a lot of milestones in my life."

"Hm..." Kira hummed. A pang of sadness chilled her heart. She wasn't quite sure what he meant by that, but she could infer a little better than most.

Sozin seemed to zone out in that moment. He examined the pronged piece of silver in his hand, running his thumb along the handle as eyes glazed over from looking at the lustrous metal. Forks weren't exactly traditional, but a lot of things weren't these days. They were just another one of the many inventions that had come from across the southern seas to Miura along with railroads, guns, artillery, and many other things. The designs and their ingenuity were revolutionizing Miura, and it was beginning to bring the enormous continent into a more modern age from an unexpected place.

Not everyone was a fan of how technology was changing the world. Many traditionalists across the continent took issue with the idea of swapping out the old ways in favor of new and perverse Southern ideas. How could one replace a refined and elegant weapon like the katana with something as uncouth as the matchlock? For some traditionalists, the mere suggestion of such ideas was considered to be heresy. Some traditionalists even thought all of it was a plot by the southern countries to destroy Miuran culture from within so that they could eventually take over with little cultural resistance. Meanwhile, the reformists were embracing this plethora of change with open arms, considering it to be a form of empowerment. As for Sozin himself, he was neither a traditionalist nor a reformist and refused to see things in such black and white terms. To him, the answer mostly depended on what exactly the technology would mean for the state of the world. He could consider himself a traditionalist, but it wasn't so much about taking a side as much as it was about preventing suffering on the scale that these inventions so easily allowed. In fact, he usually liked technology, change, and new things as long as they resulted in something good, but for someone like him, he couldn't help but hate how much power one could wield at their fingertips simply by picking up a gun and pointing it at someone.

With that thought in mind, it was hard to be entirely happy about these new inventions. New was not always better, not in an era like this and not with a species that had a penchant for war. Everywhere Sozin looked, he could see that man, tribal and aggressive, was always searching for a much darker power in anything that he possessed, always looking for another way to get the edge on his enemies and those who might oppose him. It was a sad state of affairs. Rather than using gunpowder to make fireworks and spread joy throughout the land, men chose to focus on creating weapons and tools of mass destruction like cannons and gatling guns. Rather than using railroads to transport goods and foster a world of interconnectivity, they chose to purpose them for moving their armies around and anything that they might need to wreak havoc. Rather than using telegraphs to bring people together, they chose to use them for coordinating the war effort in conquering their neighbors. How could things be this way?

War just seemed to be a natural consequence of who they were as a species, and Sozin hated that. Entire cities were living in fear of destruction because of the inventions that man had come up with. It used to be the case that war was a lot harder and a lot less destructive to wage, but now things were frightfully easy. Any schmuck with a gun could do it if he wanted to instead of training for years and years to become a warrior. In this age of conflict, Sozin felt especially bad for villagers and people living in towns. They often wished for so little—nothing more than to live small lives in small places—but war scarcely granted such a mercy.

The war with Tamura had displaced many people and Sozin was one of them now. Ishidan citizens were suffering beyond belief. He knew exactly what it was like. It was clear to him that Ishida had made the wrong choice in choosing to remain traditionalist as they were now losing the war badly because of it. Given how simple it was to operate a matchlock compared to any traditional weapon, Tamura could field new armies in a matter of weeks at a rate that Ishida simply couldn't match in the long run.

Sozin rested a stressful hand on his forehead. Feeling himself begin to wither on the inside from thinking about all of this, he ran it up through the black of his hair. He worried for the people in his country. The anger was beginning to boil inside him again. Why did he bother himself with these problems? It wasn't like there was much he could do about them anyway, was there? He hated this hideous war the Tamurans had thrust upon Ishida and the incompetence of Ishida's leaders for failing to stop it in its tracks. Never in his life did he think he'd be homeless again. Never in his life did he think he'd be back to square one because of something outside his control.

He hated when things were outside of his control. He hated so many damn things.

"Are you going to finish your food?" Kira asked, noticing the man had stopped eating.

Sozin turned his head in confusion. "Sorry, what was that?" he said, having been lost in his thoughts again for the umpteenth time. He kept forgetting that Kira was there even though she was the only reason he was eating at this restaurant in the first place. She'd decided to pay for his meal seeing as he didn't have any money anymore or anything else on his person besides his sword, really. It was a nice little thing that she'd insisted on—her way of thanking him for deciding to help out in Komasu. If Sozin hadn't been there with his second horse, she knew she wouldn't have been able to use the wagon to save as many as they did and probably wouldn't have thought of the idea anyway.

"Your food. Are you gonna finish it?" Kira repeated. She had finished her platter already and was in the middle of lighting the wad of marijuana at the end of her pipe with the tip of her index finger. She pressed the heated finger onto the top of the wad as her thumb nestled underneath the end of the pipe, trying to get it to burn.

"Oh, yeah, yeah," Sozin quickly started. "I am, I was just... thinking..."

"About what?" The flame seemed to finally catch in Kira's pipe. It lit up into a small, sizzling blaze, and she took a puff.

"Nothing, really. I just never expected I would end up homeless again."

"Again? This isn't the first time?"

Sozin stared with brooding eyes into the depths of his food. Their conversation lapsed into a short but heavy silence before he decided to speak up. "No, unfortunately not..."

"So what are you going to do now?" she asked.

"I'm not sure. Back to square one, I guess..." Sozin said. "What about you? Don't you have a home to go back to? Or a family?"

"Me? No..." Kira said like that question couldn't possibly be directed at her. "I'm an orphan. I haven't had any of that in a long time."

"Really?" Sozin's face perked up in surprise.

"Yep..." Kira said. "I know a little of what it's like to be homeless—to have everything just torn from your hands without warning. I can only imagine that what you're going through doesn't feel too good right now."

"It's not really the home that mattered to me so much as what was in it," Sozin said. "The home I can replace, but my shinobi gear... my master passed his down to me before he died and it was in there along with our only picture together. Without those things, I feel like I've lost part of my identity."

"I can understand that," Kira said as she was reminded of her family. "Someone really needs to put an end to this war. It's been dragging on for far too long..." Kira's eyes grazed the counter in reminiscence. "When I was little, I used to live along the border of what's now Tamura—farming country—so my parents were killed at the start."

"Didn't know they went after farmers," Sozin said. "Seems a bit excessive."

"If you think about it, an army marches on its stomach. Back then, they didn't want us feeding the Ishidan military with our crops," Kira said. "I was young, so I don't really remember much of what happened except for running away and hiding as my parents got slaughtered by soldiers."

"That's... tough. Sorry to hear that," Sozin said. He wasn't sure what else to say even though he wished he could say more.

"It's not your fault. You don't need to be sorry," Kira assured him. She gripped a bottle of alcohol that was sitting on the counter and took a long swig before setting it back down with a smack. "It's in the past anyway."

Sozin stared in astonishment. "How can you drink like that? You've had several of those already."

Kira let a slump develop in her posture. She eased into the hard wood of her stool chair as the marijuana and alcohol began to take effect together. "Drinking is easy when you have a reason to do it. It helps me get through the day and loosens up the muscles. There's nothing quite like drowning out your sorrows."

Sozin sucked on his lip for a moment, thinking about that statement in a much deeper light. "That's why you smoke too, isn't it? It's not just something you do."

Kira nodded with guilt, giving him a regretful "yeah" expression. "Guilty as charged..."

Sozin ate a little more, slowly enjoying his food. Their conversation had fallen into relative silence again, interspersed only with the sound of Kira smoking or taking another gulp of alcohol until Sozin turned to the woman. "Kira..." he uttered.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you for the meal," he added, quite seriously.

"Of course," Kira said.

"No, really," Sozin continued. "To be honest, I'm a little surprised..."

"Why's that?"

"I don't know..." Sozin said. "Maybe it's because you have no idea how unusual this is for me—sitting down and actually... talking to someone else for once. I haven't had a meal with someone other than Wolf in a long time."

Kira's eyes seemed to lull into some sort of sad reminiscence. "I know exactly what you mean..."

"Do you?"

"I do..." Kira said. "There used to be a time where regular people would've never given me the time of day."

"A pretty woman like you?" Sozin scoffed and glanced away. "I have a hard time believing that."

Kira sat up straight with attention. Her eyes perked up and she crossed her arms onto the counter. "You don't know much about me then," she shot back like he shouldn't be lumping her into any categories.

"Should I?"

"Perhaps... But I don't think you would understand."

"Are you sure?" Sozin asked. "I'm a pretty good listener. Understanding isn't the hard part for me—it's agreeing that's the challenge."

Painful memories bubbled to the surface that wanted to rip past the seams of Kira's dignified expression. They were nothing more than a slight on her face, hardly noticeable if it were not for Sozin's attentive eyes. "Well, if you're going to know anything about me, then you should know that I didn't always have this... face..."she said with a frown. She gestured at the beautiful mask she wore everyday with her hand, having spoke as though it was the permanent reminder of something terrible.

Kira took a puff from the pipe resting between her two graceful fingers. Her eyes seemed to zone in on something. She blew a long and thoughtful stream of smoke as the emotions starting to run through her veins brought her back.

o - o - o - o - o

Love...

Warmth...

Compassion...

Some things were only meant for certain people.

Being stuck on her family's farm with no one else around but her doting parents had blinded her to that reality. It wasn't until she lost her family that Kira realized just how important it was to have one around and how blindingly comfortable it could be at times. Sometimes, in her lowest moments, she would find herself desiring something like that more than anything else in the world. The orphanage had given her no shortage of those moments, and she often wondered if it really was better than staying out on the streets by herself.

When she was a young girl, she used to think that people treated her bad because of something she was doing. She used to believe what they told her. That, maybe, it was something she said, or how she acted, or even just how she looked at someone that was causing her problems with others, but she was just being herself. She knew that and didn't get it. Was being herself not a good thing? It was always what they said to do. Was she just an inherently bad person? She didn't think she was, but they all treated her like one anyway. She had even started to believe it.

She was so foolish back then.

Even though she didn't realize what the problem was in the beginning, she began to as time went on. It became so obvious to her in retrospect why the other kids were getting adopted but not her. She wasn't like all the cute little children and handsome boys or beautiful girls. She was a freak. An aberration that didn't deserve to and shouldn't exist. The girls, they always thought they were too good for her to hang out with them. And the boys, well, the boys wouldn't even bother talking to a girl like her unless they had to. She was just there to watch all of them get their happy ending while she stayed behind. They all treated her like she was a monster for even daring to exist. They shunned her. Why would anyone waste their time and effort on someone ugly after all? It's not like she was an actual person with feelings.

Budding parents that came to visit the orphanage—the supposed adults—they were no different than the children that she was stuck with day in and day out. Why would someone ever adopt a child they didn't actually want to call their own?

"What about Kira?" they would say to the budding parents.

"Oh, her..." a man muttered, trying to hide his disdain. "Isn't she a little...?"

It was hard to look up to anyone older than her after that. When she became an adult herself, the problem was still there just in a different and bitterly sweet way. The superficialness never seemed to get any better like she had hoped it would—it was just thrown under a rug of politeness and civility, the very glue that held society's nastier parts all together into one big mess that somehow managed to work. There was no true maturity to be found, and if there was, it was few and far between. In a way, children never really matured as much as they just grew up into adults and put on a veil of courtesy, and even then, it wasn't always there.

These thoughts began to get tiresome. Every day the adults would come and it was always the same thing. The same filthy look they all gave her but never really spoke about. It began to drive her brink of sanity. She had no control over how she looked. Why would anyone hate her for something she couldn't control? She simply couldn't understand that. It was an irrational response to an irrational thing about the world. An unfair thing.

She could always remember looking the mirror and seeing her gangly self, clutching her hair, almost ripping it out from how miserable it was making her. Ugly and disproportioned with a boyish frame for her age. She was disgusted with what she saw. What had she done to deserve this? She would go at night, to the bathroom, when all the children were asleep and there was no one to disturb her gawking or hear the muffled sobbing that she would often dissolve into. Sometimes she would even take a knife she'd snuck out of the mess hall, determined to cut the acne, a blight on her face, out from under her skin, thinking that maybe, just maybe, she could carve out a better life. Girls were supposed to be pretty after all and boys handsome. She never could do it though no matter how many times she brought that knife with her in the palm of her slender hand. She was always too scared to try.

Kira shook her head as she spoke to Sozin. Her gaze fell to the side. She didn't know why she was telling him all these things about her and how she thought about the world, or if he even agreed, but she was anyway. It was cathartic—the first time she had ever spoken about her past to anyone other than her spirit animal, Vixen—but at the same time, it was also scary. She wasn't sure whether to take his silence as a good thing or not, but he seemed to be thinking on what she was telling him. Perhaps what she was seeing in his eyes was a flicker of understanding or maybe just a false glimmer of hope. Whichever it was, for some reason, she still kept going and revealed to the man even more than she'd planned to.

o - o - o - o - o

"Eventually, I grew into my skin, but in the end..." Kira wiped the corner of her watery eyes with a lone finger. The dignified pretense withered away into something more vulnerable. She swallowed, letting out a huff from the back of her nose as she tried not to cry. Her voice nearly broke apart, quavering in spirit-crushing anguish, but she kept herself together. "I suppose I'm just an ugly girl in a pretty woman's body."

Kira's eyes were red and puffy. She stared at the counter, not wanting to look or even glance at the man next to her. He wasn't saying anything, so what was he thinking? Why had she chosen to say this much? It seemed her words had gotten out of reach before she knew what was happening. She was about to get up and leave, too mortified and uncomfortable to continue sitting there in the silence any longer, but before she could fully stand, Sozin gripped her slender forearm, pinning it to the counter.

The hand of Kira's trapped arm balled into a tight fist. She craned her head in anger. "What?" she exclaimed in a low voice. "Are you finally going to say... something?"

"If you'll let me..." Sozin said. He felt the taut muscles in her forearm loosen up and took that as a sign to continue as she sat back into her seat. "I should say this..." He let go of her forearm and leaned back. "I'm not really good with people, but for what it's worth... I'm sorry. It seems I misjudged you." Sozin knew she hadn't been lying. Her emotions were too raw for that.

"Everyone makes that mistake," Kira seethed. "All anyone has ever seen is my face."

"Well, I'm trying not to be like everyone else," Sozin said.

Kira snorted. Her tensions seemed to ease up a little bit more as soon as she heard that. "I can see that..." she said.

"I should thank you as well."

"For what exactly?"

"For giving me some perspective."

Their eyes met, and they exchanged a precarious gaze. Kira was unsure of what the man's intentions were with his rhetoric but didn't sense anything wrong. It seemed like he was genuinely sorry for his mistake. "Sure..." she said, feeling herself finally relax under his insistent coaxing. "You're a very unusual man."

"In a good way or bad way?" Sozin asked.

Kira shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm not sure yet, but I can tell a lot about you already."

"Yeah?" Sozin grinned. "Like what?"

"Good question..." Kira replied with intrigued eyes. "What kind of man do you think you might be, Sozin Daihachi?"

"That's a tough one," Sozin admitted. "Still trying to figure that out for myself, honestly. Maybe you should ask the government. I'm basically an enemy of the state to them."

"I remember reading about you in the news years ago, but you don't seem as bad as they made you out to be. You're a good listener. Besides, I think I already know what kind of person you are," Kira said.

"Try me..." Sozin dared with quiet intensity.

"I can see it in your eyes..." Kira leaned to the side, giving Sozin an inspective look. Getting close to him and scrunching her brows in solemn scrutiny, she planted a steadying hand on Sozin's cheek and then peered into his eyes like they were some sort of crystal ball, as though she was analyzing the very fabric of his being. She moved her head around, trying to get different points of view. "Yes... There it is..." Kira said softly, running her thumb back and forth along his cheek once she had found it. "You know, you act tough now, but you were a very meek boy when you were younger, weren't you?" She took a deep breath, looking into him further. "You're a corrupted man. I can tell the world grinded that out of you. That's a shame. A real pity..."

Sozin felt like he was going to shrink under the woman's gaze. Her hand kept him in place. He froze, staring back at her as he felt a sinister chill go up his neck. The hairs on it stood on end like someone had shined a torch on him. The words required to speak escaped his lips. He was hardly breathing. Someone had broken past his ruse, and it showed on his face. Stunned silence mixed in with the weakening of his features. For a split second, he was vulnerable like he had made her—for the first time in a long time—and his eyes seemed to quiver. His entire body wanted to shrivel up and hide in the face of her revealing light. The smirk lining her mouth told him she had calculated this reaction as some sort of sly vengeance.

Reaching over slowly, Sozin gripped her wrist tightly within his callused palm and calmly removed her hand from his face. There was no anger in his movements. Only shock.

"You're just saying that," he murmured.

"Am I?" Kira pulled away. "That is the question."

A little intimidated, Sozin asked with a deceptively confident grin, "Did you see my soul or something from that angle? What sort of witchery was that?"

Kira laughed, shaking her head. "Witchery? That was just theatrics. People are like books, Sozin. The more you keep reading, the more it all starts to come together," she said like it was so obvious and easy to understand.

"Like books, you say..." Sozin said with tentative lips. "So, am I an open or closed book?"

"Which do you want to be?" Kira inquired with a mysterious, almost devilish flare in her eyes.

"Oh, closed, for sure."

"You're in luck then," Kira remarked. "Because that's what you are. But don't get so comfortable—the pages are peeking out just enough for someone like me to piece things together."

Sozin wondered if he was simply an easy person to know or if the woman just had a knack for reading people. He'd never pegged himself as a particularly transparent person. He always thought that was part of the reason why it was so hard for him to get close to anyone.

"Was it as easy as you make it sound?" Sozin asked.

"No," Kira told him. "Technically, I didn't know for sure until your reaction confirmed everything just now. They were just inferences until then. Well-calculated ones at that."

"That's impressive," Sozin said. "Even I'm not that good at figuring out people. I bet you'd make a good psychologist."

"Maybe in another life. I prefer not to deal with others," Kira said.

"That makes two of us," Sozin said. He paused, thinking of something else he wanted to say to her. "Hey, uh... Since were here, can I ask you something?"

"Anything," Kira said, feeling comfortable.

"How long are you going to stay in Bakou?"

"I'll probably be gone by tomorrow. I never stay anywhere for long—a few months at most if I've taken an interest in a place, but that's it."

"I think I'm going to do the same," Sozin said. "I'm going to head back to Komasu tomorrow morning and see if I can salvage anything from my manor. The Tamuran army should be gone by then."

"But your manor burnt down," Kira said. "What are you hoping to find? It's all ash and rubble now."

"The house itself might be ash, but gold doesn't burn," Sozin smirked. "I had a... minor... stash of coin in a chest. It should still be there and should be just enough to get me what I need for what I'm planning. I'm going to find it, get myself some new gear, and then leave for Tamura. After hearing your story earlier and what you said about someone needing to end the war, I've decided I'm going to do it myself. It's gotten personal, and Ishida's leadership and military is just too incompetent to let them handle this themselves."

"For one man, those are pretty big ambitions," Kira said. "How can you expect to end the war all by yourself? It's been going on for decades. If you ask me, for one man, I think you're being a tad optimistic."

Sozin chuckled and his lips curved into an arrogant grin."That's the first time I've ever been accused of optimism." He threw his hands out. "Who knows? Maybe one man is all it takes... I suppose my ambitions might be getting ahead of me, but no one has ever done anything great by dreaming small. All I need to do is cut off the head of their operations, and Tamura's entire war effort will come to a crumbling halt. It might take a while, but unfortunately for Tamura, their army just cleared my calender for me."

"Are you open to having some company?" Kira asked. "What if I tagged along with you?"

"You want to come with me to Tamura?" Sozin said in surprise. "We'll have to cross the border."

"I don't see why not," Kira said. "It'd be good for me if I wasn't in Ishida for the time being since I have Takeda's men chasing after me."

"Oh, yeah. You have that problem... that you're, ah... dealing with..." Sozin gestured awkwardly at her with his hand.

"I suppose it can't be helped that I don't have the money to pay your fee," Kira said, disregarding his awkwardness. "That's why I'm not going to stay in Bakou—I have to keep them off my trail. They probably won't follow me into Tamura, and if I'm lucky, Takeda will eventually get tired of my running and forget about me."

"I don't mind if you tag along," Sozin said. "Crossing the border shouldn't be too hard. It's the least I could do for you."

"Don't you want someone around to watch your back anyway?" Kira thought back to all the other reasons she had for wanting to come along. War had taken her family, her life as a farmgirl, and sentenced her to a childhood of misery. "You don't seem like that kind of guy, but I want this war to end as much as anybody else does. Maybe I could help you?"

"We'll see," Sozin said. "Normally, I would say I work best alone, but maybe you're right..."

Maybe.

Just maybe.


	14. Everlasting Memories

War was not so easy on travellers, that much Sozin knew.

The borders between Ishida and Tamura were highly contested and constantly shifting with the flames of war. If Sozin was travelling by himself, penetrating the Tamuran defensive line wouldn't have been much of an issue for someone with his skillset, but he wasn't alone anymore as he now had to worry about the safety of the samurai. Unfortunately, she didn't have the benefit of his training in stealth. Crossing the border was a lot like trying to navigate a minefield of people. It would be a remarkably simple procedure if some of the more obvious but lesser-known routes through the countryside weren't riddled with the prying eyes of soldiers—sentries, scouts, and shinobi hunters alike—but in times of conflict, all of them most certainly were. If the pair were spotted by any of those soldiers, the Tamuran military would be alerted and then quickly descend upon the area to root them out like they were a bad case of rebellion.

If that was the case, then main roads and byways were off limits because they were hotzones for attention, and he would probably get caught if he tried to go through one of them with Kira. But what did that leave him for his options? On the bright side, getting across the border was the only hard part of this initial phase in Sozin's grand plan to topple the Tamuran regime, because once they were on the other side, they would be home free and could blend in with the populace as they needed to. No one would be looking for them.

Since Kira was tagging along and she didn't know how to sneak around or blend in all that well, there was only one way to get across without having to worry about being seen by the Tamuran army or anyone else for that matter, and that was through Bodhisattva Valley. The Valley used to be entirely within Ishidan territory, but the borders had been pushed back far enough to mean that it stopped over the edge of Tamura. The Valley was mainly meant for messengers with critical information for Kyuden—Ishida's capital city—but determined souls and brave individuals were also known to use it as a way to escape the threat of bandits and being robbed. Through the Valley, a few weeks worth of travel on foot was reduced to a several days at most.

Sozin would've preferred not to take this route, but the Valley was the only choice they had. Neither the Ishidan nor Tamuran army wanted much to do with it and for good reason. Most of the wildlife was dangerous, but in particular, the Shiroi mountain range that the Valley was a part of were home to giant apes so large that not even an ogre could hope to survive if it ran into one. Even worse than that was the fact that the mountains themselves, not just the wildlife, were also deadly—home to many natural dangers like poisonous swamps, steep dropoffs, and harsh weather—which was why a span of bridges had been built through the Valley in the first place as a poor attempt to create a safe path through its depths. From outcrop to outcrop, rickety bridges stretched on for miles throughout the many chasms of the Valley, so narrow that they were barely wide enough for single-file traffic.

Some would say all of that paled in comparison the worst part of Bodhisattva Valley. There was something far more sinister than anything else lurking in its depths because the Valley also had another name that it went by. Sozin remembered seeing it on a crude sign at the start of the very first bridge.

"Serpent's Pass..." Sozin mulled to himself. "You think we'll run into the Great Serpent?" he wondered as Kira and him made their way across yet another one of the precarious bridges making up the Valley. The long, gangling bridge wobbled with every whistle of the breeze, no matter how slight.

Humored by the man's childish imagination, amusement slipped onto Kira's face, and she shook her head. She was only a few steps behind Sozin. "Is that what you're thinking about?"

Sozin shrugged his shoulders, trying to get the straps for the basket of provisions he was carrying into a comfortable position on his back. "Eh..." he grimaced apathetically. "Yeah, it's probably a bunch of horseshit, but you never know."

Kira gazed into the dusky sky. The chilling breeze was starting to bite harder into her skin as the sun descended upon the land, taking any morsel of warmth along with it. The great stone cliffs boxing them in from either side were acting as a channel for all the currents of cold air. "The sun's going down," Kira said. "I'd say we have bigger things to worry about... like finding somewhere to rest. I'm tired of staring at the back of your head."

Sozin chuckled. "Sure, but I don't want to sleep in this wind unless we have to. Keep an eye out for someplace sheltered."

Kira blew a stray strand of hair away from her face only for it to fall back in front of her vision again. "Oh, my eyes are peeled..." she said with half-lidded enthusiasm.

There wasn't much else to do besides walk, talk to each other, and take in the scenery, so Sozin's wandering eyes found themselves falling upon the face of Buddha. Not too far away, a colossal statue had been carved into the rock that dwarfed everything around it. The Great Serpent was thought to be an angry spirit from the animal realm which was the why the Valley was called Bodhisattva because many sculptures of Buddha had been carved into the great cliff walls making up the Valley to appease it. They were so big and towering that they even rivaled Kyuden's massive pagodan skyscrapers which were a source of national pride. The sculptures had been built in an effort to quell the spirit's restlessness so that the land could finally be conquered, but Sozin couldn't attest to their effectiveness.

Sozin's eyes traced down the statue and then back to his waraji-clad feet. He stared through the gaps between the shabby planks of the bridge. Far down below, there was a raging river of water that seemed to be waiting for something to eat. It looked like it wanted to swallow them up whole, but if they fell, it would first pulverize them against the spires of rock jutting out from the surface before devouring anything that remained.

"Hey, you see all that water down there?" Sozin said. "It looks pretty deep, doesn't it?"

Hesitant, Kira glanced downwards. "Don't remind me—I can't swim."

"What? Are you serious?" Sozin looked over his shoulder scoldingly. "I've been swimming since I was three. You know, three-quarters of the Earth is covered in water, right?"

Kira smiled back with pure confidence bursting at the corners of her lips. "That's three-quarters that can kill me. I'll take those odds."

As he stepped from plank to plank, Sozin turned and wagged his finger at the woman. "You play a dangerous game," he said. "It kinda reminds me of when I used to gamble, except, I never gambled with my life."

"You—a gambler? You don't seem like the type," Kira said.

"I know, I know. I never thought I'd be that guy, but it happened," Sozin said. "I'm not too proud of it, but you'll never find a better hold 'em player than me. It's a funny story, actually. That's how I ended up meeting you."

Kira wanted to laugh at how stupid that was. "Because of poker?" she said like he couldn't be actually be serious.

"Yeppers..." Sozin said breathily. "I bet a lot of money on this one game and lost to some asshole in a backroom. To this day, I swear he was cheating. I think he had a literal ace up his sleeve, but I ended up having to pay him back because I couldn't prove it."

"Sounds like your luck ran out," Kira said.

"Yeah, it kinda did. Well, what can you do, right? If I lose a game of poker, _it's because Lady Luck deemed it so,_" Sozin said, accentuating his words with the raise of his pointed finger. "And it seems she did that day. I've never been that lucky of a guy—I mean, just look at my life," Sozin chuckled morbidly. "But I am skilled, and skill is how you make your own luck."

"Uh huh..." Kira rolled her eyes at the man's wisdom.

"Whoa, what the hell happened here?" Sozin said as he stepped off the bridge onto a stretch of rock. A wide ledge extended out to the side from where he stood but came to a dead end in front of one of the great cliff walls that formed the Valley's ravine. Their only way across the large gap of air in front of them, the next bridge, had been completely shorn in half. Across the gap, Sozin could see the other end of the bridge clear as day. From the overhang it was anchored to, it was draped like a ladder down the side of the rock face. Walking over to the edge, Sozin peered into the chasm and saw that their half of the bridge had also decided to transform into a ladder. At the bottom of the chasm, he could also see the river of murky water and the rocks that were still waiting for a fresh meal.

"Looks like the bridge is out," Kira said as she drifted next to Sozin. She gripped the straps of her own supply basket, tugging on them gently.

"These bridges were constructed hundreds of years ago," Sozin said. "I'm not surprised one of them isn't standing anymore."

Kira gave two quick pats to Sozin's shoulder with the bottom of her clenched fist. "Think you can get us across, shinobi?"

"Yeah, this'll be a piece of cake," Sozin smirked. "It's the perfect opportunity for me to test out my new gear."

Sozin's new gear had felt strange ever since he'd gotten his hands on it. He supposed it was only natural since he was stepping into uncharted territory. If he was being honest with himself, he had never truly been a shinobi in his own right, instead having chosen to carry on his master's legacy by wearing the Ikijo's battle-worn outfit everywhere he went. There was nothing wrong with that, it was how Sozin honored his master, but in a way, maybe this change was a good thing. A silver lining of some sort. It'd taken around a week to have the new gear tailor-made to fit his person, and aside from the colors—now blacks and grays instead of blacks and purples—the gear was virtually identical to his master's standard Ministry attire. Sozin had picked the colors out with careful intention. They were neutral colors, belonging to none of the countries on the Miuran continent. If he was going to make a statement by ending the war, not as an Ishidan but as a lone man going down his own path and doing what he thought was right, he figured that was one fine method of doing it.

Sozin glanced down at his forearm. He double-checked to make sure his grappling hook was loaded properly.

Stained thick with grease, the grappling hook attached to Sozin's left forearm was a fairly discreet and ingenius device for its size. It's invention was relatively recent. Concieved mere decades ago at the start of the Iron War by a mechanical mastermind, the design was fairly simple when you broke it down—it was nothing more a spring-loaded kunai attached to the end of a long rope. There were a variety of kunai that existed in the shinobi world and each one had a specific purpose. Some were for stabbing, others throwing or even farming, but the kunai in Sozin's grappling hook was made from wrought iron that had been molded into a long, narrow blade. It was sharper than other kinds of kunai. Sozin always carried two extra trios of its kind, above his ankles on the outside of both his lower legs, so he could replace the kunai as the tip got worn down and became ineffective for grappling. The sharpened tip of the kunai combined with backwards facing serrations at the base of its blade made it perfect for penetrating into objects and then gripping them securely. The device itself was also easy to reset. At the press of a small button, the kunai could reel back in like a yo-yo and be ready to use again with no downtime.

Sozin had a particular affinity for the device. If he ever needed to, he could use his windbending skills in combination with the grappling hook to soar all over the place if he wanted to, and he did enjoy doing that from time to time. As a young man who only wanted to be free, there were few things better to him than the rush of wind in his face and the rippling of his clothing.

Kira leaned in towards the grappling hook to take a look at it. "Curious device you've got there," she remarked.

Sozin twisted his forearm back and forth with a sense of display in mind. "Indeed, it's a marvelous invention..." he said in a low voice of awe. "Most Ishidan ninja prefer the kaginawa out of tradition—and because this thing can be a bit unreliable—but I'm not afraid of technology."

"Fun facts..." Kira's lips perked into a gleeful smile.

The grappling hook seemed to be in working order as Sozin's eyes inspected it. Turning his attention in front of him, Sozin aimed across the gap at one of the wooden posts that acted as an anchor for the other half of the bridge. At the push of a button, the kunai shot out serpentine, like a striking cobra, and embedded itself into the wooden post. Pulling on the length of the rope, Sozin felt some heavy resistance as he tugged. That was a good sign— it meant the kunai was secure enough to hold his weight and the weight of his supplies, and if it could hold him, then it could probably hold Kira as well since he assumed he was heavier than her. But you could never be too sure though. He decided to ask anyway despite the lack of encouragement from his more well-mannered persona.

"Hey, Kira," Sozin said as he pulled more cordage out of the grappling device with his other hand. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but how much do you weigh?"

Kira grinned and planted her hands on her hips. "You can be pretty blunt, huh? 'Bout eleven stone. Why? Do you think I'm too heavy for the rope to hold?"

Sozin grinned back. "Well, I'm a little more than twelve, so if it works for me, it'll work for you too. The rope feels like it'll hold my weight, so here's hoping." A few moments later, Sozin finished pulling out the extra length of rope that he needed from the device. He held a piece out for Kira to cut. "Can you unsheath one of your swords for me?"

"Oh, yep!" Kira realized, having turned her attention elsewhere. "I didn't know I was needed."

Kira shuffled closer and exposed her sword-bearing hip to him. She partly unsheathed one of her twin katanas with a rasp, and Sozin used its sharp edge to sever the rope from the grappling device. Kneeling down, he began to fasten the rope to one of the nearby posts for the half of the bridge that was on their side.

"You're very needed," Sozin said. "You're the only one staving off my boredom out here."

"I can't be that interesting," Kira replied.

Sozin raised his eyebrows like she was talking crazy. He shrugged, saying, "Maybe I'm just easy to entertain, but you'd be surprised..." When he finished tying up the rope, strumming it with his finger, he stood up and dusted off his hands as he backed away to admire the handiwork. "There we go... Now all we have to do is shimmy across."

Sozin promptly retrieved one of the kunai had been fixed to the shin wraps on his lower legs. He tied the kunai to the end of the rope in his grappling device and then reloaded it so that he could use it again if he had to. Turning back to look at Kira, they exchanged a knowing gaze. His smirk for her smile.

"You first," Kira said with an open gesture of her hands. "You're the monkey."

"Right," Sozin chuckled, shaking his head with a grin. "I'm the asshole that's gotta make sure it works. What do I got to lose?"

"If something happens, I'll always remember you," Kira said in a positive tone.

"Oh, yay..." Sozin uttered with zero excitement.

At those words, with great skill and grace, Sozin hopped onto the tightrope, intensely aware of how it dipped down as he did so. The rope held his weight as he expected, and he began to walk across it with supreme balance. The breeze was eager to push him off into the chasm below, but he maintained his posture like he was performing a delicate circus act, daring and bold. "Hey, this is actually pretty good!"

"That's not what I was expecting you to do," Kira said.

Sozin glanced behind him at the woman. "Why do you say that? Did you think I was going to clamber across _like a monkey_?"

"Yeah..." Kira said frankly. "That actually looks really dangerous."

"Not for someone like me. I could sprint across if I wanted to!"

"Now you're just bragging," Kira said.

Sozin took several more steps. It quickly became apparent that walking straight across the rope was almost too easy for his level of experience. His confidence got the better of him, and he flipped around. Sozin thrust his chest out. He swaggered backwards along the rope, stretching his arms out like a swan about to take flight, and intoned with the magnificence of a diva, "Look at me, Kira! I'm a fucking god!"

"Ugh," Kira facepalmed. "You're so cringe..." Averting her eyes from his buffoonery, Kira inspected her trimmed nails with a jaded, almost completely deadpan face. "I hope you die," she said, dry and flatter than a board.

"What?" Sozin blurted out in high-pitched confusion.

"Nothing, nothing," Kira quickly said, grinning and raising her voice so she could hear him better. Her features softened at his idiocy which was somehow endearing to her in a strange way. "You look like a retard. And a showoff..."

"I know! But you're stuck with me!" Sozin said. "Y'know, I could do this for money—I don't, but I could!"

Sozin finished walking across the rest of the tightrope, practically frolicking upon the small sliver of threading that was keeping him from death and holding him in the air for his only spectator—the dignified samurai who was too proud to properly and fully enjoy his performance. With a feathery bounce in his step, Sozin pranced off the rope, his waraji finally meeting the safety of the ground with little more than a quiet, stony tap from the balls of his feet. He was as light as a ballerina.

"Bravo! You're a fucking acrobat!" Kira cheered dryly, clapping with excessive enthuasiasm. Her head joggled like a fanatical audience member.

Sozin flashed Kira a shenanigous expresssion. "Is that an encore I hear?"

"Oh, no, please, no..." Kira stuck the flat of her hand out.

"Then it's your turn!" Sozin shouted across the gap. "Come on over!"

"My turn?"

"Yeah...! You aren't gonna stay over there, are you?"

"No, but..." Kira peered over the edge of her comfort zone. She took a generous look into the deep chasm. It was a long and perilous way down into the river. She wondered if they were high enough for water to kill her instantly. If she didn't die on impact, she would suffer a slow and horrible death from drowning. For a brief moment, she imagined how painful it would probably be to have cold, foul water filling her lungs as she struggled to stay above the surface, and the mere thought of it forced a slight grimace onto her face. Would Sozin jump in after her if she fell?

"Well...?" Sozin said.

Kira let out a sigh from the back of her nose. "Yeah, I'll... be right over..." she muttered, her voice trailing off with concern.

"Don't worry!" Sozin said. "You don't have to walk across it like I did! Just climb over on all fours—y'know, like a monkey on a vine or something."

Kira threw her arms out to her sides. "Do I look like a monkey to you?" she shouted.

"You technically are one! Great ape, actually, but close enough!"

"Yeah, that's really reassuring! Can you stop talking?"

"If it makes you more comfortable...!"

Without another word, Sozin shut his trap. Kira took the opportunity to mentally prepared herself, steeling her nerves for what was about to come. When she thought she was ready, she lowered herself down onto her hands and knees. She clambered onto the the rope, more awkward than a fish on land as her legs left the edge of the cliff. Although she wasn't a shinobi, she could immediately tell how bad it looked from Sozin's point of view.

In an instant, Sozin had already burst out laughing. He cackled like a hyena at how forced and mechanical her gait was. His booming laughter echoed throughout the ravine.

"Oh my god..." Kira muttered like she was about to throw up from the sheer embarrassment. She could feel her cheeks turning beet red as the chilly breeze kissed their warmth. She hadn't anticipated this outcome in any shape, way, or form, and it had taken her completely off guard.

"You move like a fuckin' action figure!" Sozin cackled between crazed laughter. His hands were on his knees as he trembled in delight from the sheer rowdiness that had been ignited inside his bones.

"Fuck this shit," Kira spat under her breath. "I'm gonna turn back!"

"No, no—don't!" Sozin returned with vigor. Breathily, he took a hand off his knee to brandish it in disagreement. "You're doing great!" he assured her.

By some miracle of divine intervention, Kira managed to work up the courage to keep going. She shimmied along the rope, all the while enduring the full and unbridled torment of this man's wretched laughter for the entirety of her journey across the chasm. "Look at you go!" he said, so patronizingly. She emerged on the other side, unharmed and no worse for wear. Well, at least on the outside, that is.

Sozin extended a hand to Kira to help her up as she clambered onto the rocky overhang.

A petulant glower washed over Kira's face and she swatted his hand away. "Don't touch me," she said. Standing up, she dipped her chin down and looked past him, trying to hide the rosy redness that had invaded her pink cheeks.

"Oh, come on, Kira..." Sozin sniffled as the last few bits of laughter died down from his voice. He licked his lips to moisten them, ignoring her spiteful words as he put a hand on her shoulder. "Man, I really thought I was gonna die. You had me shook there for a moment."

"Whatever..." Kira said. "Let's get moving again."

"Yeah, yeah..." Sozin let out a slight giggle. "Let us..."

It was ladies first, so, with a smirk on his face, Sozin gestured with his hands, as a proper gentleman would, for her to take the lead. Begrudgingly, Kira obliged, and they continued on their voyage from bridge to precarious bridge. Eventually, at some point, somewhere high above the river that roared down below, within the ravine, and along one of the rocky strips of ledging that interspersed the bridges, the pair of warriors happened upon an alcove—a large nook that shortly ended after it recessed into the cliff wall. The nook wasn't very deep, but it seemed to offer an adequate amount of seclusion from the wind and any of the other elements that might plague them at this time of year. It was winter after all.

Moonlight bled into the nook at an angle, dimly illuminating the rugged interior as Kira sauntered inside with Sozin following close behind. Sozin let the basket of supplies he was carrying slip off his shoulders onto the ground, and he heard Kira follow suit. The hard rock floor of this cozy retreat seemed to smooth enough to sit down on at least, but the walls were another story. They would have to put up with it, he supposed, since they were both exhausted from a day's worth of travel, and this place was the best thing they had. Glancing to the entrance of the nook, it seemed Buddha would be accompanying them to sleep tonight as another one of the large sculptures had been carved into the cliff face on the other side of the ravine.

Sozin let out a pleasurable sigh of langour. They had made good progress today, but now it was time to eat. Sozin sat down and leaned against the rough wall. The cold stone sapped the warmth in his body straight through his clothes. He didn't feel like eating much, just something small to sate his appetite until the morning when he could binge, so he rolled his basket of supplies closer to him, unsecured the lid, and began rummaging through its contents. After a little bit of searching underneath all the clutter—vegetebles; a wok; small bags of rice, beans, and noodles; and a few other sundries he'd packed with careful prudence—he found the candy bar he had planted inside specifically for this moment. The candy bar was a little smashed from the weight of everything else, and he probably should've put it at the top of the pile on second thought, but it was still good enough to eat. Sozin undid the blank paper wrapper and opened his mouth to dig in.

"Is that a candy bar?" a feminine voice chimed in from beside Sozin.

Softened by a drowsy weariness, the voice was more mellow than usual, buttery smooth like melted chocolate and sounding just as sweet. Mouth still agape, Sozin eyes darted over to Kira, his singular source of company on this otherwise lonely journey and also the very person who he'd completely forgotten about in his tongue-tingling anticipation of finally being able to eat something. His mouth shut, and he said, "Yeah... Why?"

Kira leaned in closer from where she sat, teetering on her propped-up arm. "Can I have a piece?" she said innocently, like a little kid that was pestering their parent at a candy store.

"Didn't you pack any in your rucksack?"

Kira revealed the bottle of sake in her other hand and gave it an audible _swish _with the shake of her hand. "I brought... _other... _necessities," she chuckled with a cheeky grin. "Anyways, can I have some?"

"Uh..." Sozin hesitated, glancing to the candy bar and then to Kira.

"Wow..." Kira murmured in disbelief. Her grin had faded into a smirk. Low-key offended, she shook her head with subdued disapproval. "You selfish bastard."

"What?" Sozin exclaimed with a flustered grin. He shoved the candy bar in her face. "Take it then!"

Kira crossed her arms and turned away. "Oh, so now you offer, as soon as I say something."

Retracting the candy bar, Sozin's eyes locked into the upper corners of his vision, frozen with displeasure from her curt stonewalling of his concession. Slightly annoyed, both at himself and at Kira, the man let out a long, long, exhale. He wasn't sure why he had hesitated to give her the candy bar in the first place, but found himself relaxing a little, regardless. "Sorry..." Sozin chuckled. He scratched the back of his neck. "I don't know why I hesitated," he said as his brows creased in pensive consideration. "I guess I'm... just not used to sharing things with anyone."

"Mmm..." Kira hummed in mock agreement. She didn't quite understand, and the tone of his voice drew concern out of her own. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. Just take the candy bar..." Sozin said in a low voice.

"No, it's fine," Kira said with no particular tone. Her eyes mindlessly traced the air as she looked away. "You brought it for yourself, and if you don't want me to have any-"

"Take the fucking thing, Kira!" Sozin implored again, firmer and louder this time, not quite yelling, not quite angry, but having raised his voice far enough to get the point across. In less than a second, Kira was already staring at him, surprised by his insistence. Within a heavy silence, they exchanged a tense gaze.

"Fine..." Kira conceded.

Sozin presented her with the candy bar again. This time, instead of turning away, Kira leaned down into a slump, parted her lips, and then, in awkward realization, slowly bit off a sizeable block of it with her teeth as her mouth enveloped the chocolatey exterior with more sensuality than she had intended for. Unwittingly, Kira had trapped herself into an unsteady eye-contact with Sozin the entire way through as she kept her hands planted on the ground and stiff arms glued uncomfortably to her sides. Kira had realized her mistake when she'd already leaned in and it was too late to back out. That stupid part of her brain had gone off again, and instead of using her hands to grab stuff like a normal person would, for some reason, she'd decided to reach for the candy bar with her mouth. The pain was excruciating in the moment, almost unbearable and downright torturous, but she maintained frame, and followed through with her actions.

Meanwhile, Sozin stared with a mostly blank expression on his face. His eyes were quivering like they had the curse of a thousand yards. His blankness wasn't because he wasn't feeling anything—quite to the contrary; he was feeling a lot of things in many different areas—but his face had been frozen from every part of him trying to process what had just happened before the awkwardness managed to cave his butterflying insides in. An avalanche of anxiety had erupted within his person.

They both stared at each other.

Kira chuckled nervously, shrinking into her shoulders a little.

Sozin's eyes flickered to the candy bar for a split second. Amongst the rigid features of his face—solid as a rock as any professional man could be under extreme pressure—the corner of Sozin's mouth trembled, desiring to burst into a blazing grin like a hatchling of an emotion trying to break out of the egg it was locked in. "I thought you were going to grab it with your hand..." he spoke up in a murmur.

"Me too..." Kira garbled. Blowing the whole thing off, she started laughing as she chewed her piece of the candy bar. She swallowed, and said in a much clearer voice, "Sorry, that was weird."

"I don't judge, so I'll just pretend that didn't happen," Sozin said. "I've been judged far too many times by others that it would make me a hypocrite to be judgemental myself."

"Of course..." Kira said.

"Yeah, okay, ah... I think I'm gonna go to bed. Here—you can have the rest of the candy bar if you want," Sozin said, forcing it into the grasp of her free hand. He just wanted a way out of this situation as fast as possible.

"Thanks..." Kira said uneasily.

Kira looked at the bottle in her other hand. Goddamn, did she need a drink right now.

Shifting around into a comfortable spot against the wall of the nook, Sozin threw his hood over his eyes to escape the anxiety that was bearing down on him from her direction. The metal headpiece at the front of the hood had been engraved with the kanji for his favorite word:

_風_

_Wind._

In literal terms, the kanji said wind, but to Sozin, it really meant freedom. That was all he could ever see every time he looked at it.

Sozin ran the pads of his fingers over the engravings before resigning himself to slumber. He fell asleep to the relaxing sound of swigs and swishes of alcohol. Part of him had trouble sleeping because his mind just couldn't forget about what had transpired , and in the middle of the night, he gave a few muffled snickers that resonated off the walls of the nook no matter how much he tried to silence them. They came out whether he wanted them to or not. Curled up into a ball nearby, Kira heard him, and she buried her face into her arms with a groan. He was still thinking about it, and his low, sporadic giggles kept her awake.

After a couple more suppressed laughs here and there, Sozin's laughter managed to fully die down. In the silence, he could hear the lullsome churning of the river far down below in the ravine. "Hey, Kira... You still awake?" Sozin murmured. "It's okay... We all do weird shit."

Kira's dignified eyes fluttered open to meet the ninja's shadowed gaze from underneath his black hood. In the dark lighting, her eyes glowed a dull orange and his a dull red. "Go back to sleep, Sozin," she said, rolling her back to him. "You're a real thorn in my side."

"Yeah, and you say you're boring."

Kira snorted. "I stand corrected."

Sozin decided not to say anything else back. He merely observed the outline of her curled up form for a few, tranquil moments. Then he crossed his arms, shut his eyes again, and slumped further against the rock wall.

And that was that for the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sozin and Kira are my spirit animals. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I just had to include Bodhisattva Valley in my story as I loved that location in Sekiro.


	15. Angel Amongst Demons

Sleep always seemed to be so quick. It was a blissful escape of wonderous dreams and imaginations that was merely a short respite from the troubles of the real world. Sozin liked it a lot, but the morning always came to wake him up like running headfirst into a brick wall. Before he knew it, dawn had arrived, and soft morning sunlight was peering into the shadowed nook.

Sozin awoke early. Years of disciplined training and adherance to a strict routine had made it easy for him. As he stood up, rising forward from the roughness of the wall he'd been leaning against for the whole night, his eyes fell upon the sleeping form nearby. Kira was still curled up into a ball, her mouth ajar, head resting on a bent elbow, and face captured within a dozy slumber. She looked peaceful. Hearing his stomach grumble, Sozin wanted to start cooking so he could eat, but he thought it was better to wait until Kira was up, as that way, they could eat together.

He had nothing to do right now, and she was asleep. This would be a good time for him to get in some training in.

Sozin decided to retrace his steps on the stone path along the side of the cliff. He walked back far enough until he was sure that Kira couldn't hear him anymore. When he had found a nice spot in the cliff wall, he widened his stance and began to punch exactly how his master had taught him how to. It was a method to harden the fists and hone the mind. It all started to come back. A trip down memory lane.

Incessant blows.

Slow, but one after the other, after the other. It was almost like a ritual.

"You'll never amount to anything," his father said.

Steady.

Sozin's fist pounded into the wall. Chips of rock broke off. The bones in his hands were no longer fragile and did not beg to break nor splinter as they once had.

"You weirdo!" his brothers would say. "That's why you're always alone. No one wants to play with you!"

Every day...

_Made him stronger._

Sozin rested his forehead on the wall, pressing into it with the weight of all his memories. He continued to punch like a machine. His fist pounded into the wall again, this time creating a devastating crack in the stone.

"Ew, him? Why would anyone want to be his friend?" an older girl said like he was less than human.

Unrelenting.

And all it had taken was the flip of a switch. The match of his father to the fuel that life had provided.

"You're just a loser!" others would call out in the schoolyard.

A crater formed in the stone wall on the next hit, a crushing impact that crumbled the very rock his bones smashed into. There was no pain, and no reaction on his part. He had not crawled himself from the brink of insanity to let any of that stop him today. He had gotten used to it. In fact, it seemed like he was always being tested. His thoughts especially.

If that's what he was, an underdog...

Then he was going to play that part to the best of his ability.

They wouldn't let him be anything else. It was time to start hitting back, and he would, indeed, start hitting back. It would begin the second they reach Tamura. They would never see him coming. He wanted them, every last one these people he was stuck with on this rotten Earth that deserved it, to feel every excruciating blow as it rips through their organs. The biggest targets were the Tamuran military and their associates.

He wanted them to feel a blow from the weak.

From the scorned.

From the disadvantaged.

From all the people who were never given a fair chance in life because of this war or for any other reason, he would be their representative in flesh, blood, and spirit because he himself had crawled his miserable soul out of those same abysses, and he would be damned if he was going to be denied this honor. This privilege. That torch was his to take in addition to the one he was carrying for his own personal freedom. He would show the world what happens when you push someone into a corner and don't give them a pleasurable way out.

Sozin stopped punching the wall. In the aftermath of his trance of thought and emotion, he inspected his scarred fists with a scrutinizing eye. They no longer bled, only scraped, and with that realization, he began to shake his head and chuckle villainously. He quietly returned to the cave with a smirk on his face.

Kira was still sleeping. Not wanting to disturb her, Sozin decided to take the opportunity as a chance to meditate to counteract the surge of energy and emotions he had built up in his body. The emptiness of his stomach stuck out like a knife in his gut, but he ignored it and sat down at the end of the ledge, cross-legged in front of the mouth of the nook. Rays of sunlight lit up one side of his squinting face. The cool breath of a winter day rising from another night of darkness met his warm skin. Buddha stood across from him, carved into the towering cliff wall on the other side of the ravine.

Sozin closed his eyes. It was time for meditation, so he brought his palms together in front of him like he was going to pray. He didn't have the idol his master had used anymore, but he thought he could easily make do with the gigantic Buddha statue that the Valley was providing for him. He let out a lengthy, controlled exhale and steadied his breathing into a calm rhythm. He didn't know when Kira was going to wake up, so he simply meditated for as long as he could.

Eventually, Sozin heard someone shuffling around behind him. It could be no one other than the woman. The sounds of her stirring awake were quickly followed by the approaching click-clack of her characteristic geta sandals, and then, finally, came that distinctive feminine voice he was beginning to know so well.

"Good morning, Sozin... " Kira yawned like a cat. Rubbing her bleary eyes, she said with grogginess, "Are you praying? I didn't know you were religious."

Without turning around, Sozin cracked open one of his crimson red eyes. "I'm a man of religion, Kira. Not because I believe in any sort of god, but because it's my way of honoring my dead master and because it makes me a better person. _Prayer..._"Sozin said curiously, "comforts the soul... calming its fears and anxieties."

"Mm," Kira hummed from the mouth of the nook. He was spouting his wisdom again. His words struck Kira as revealing even in her grogginess. "I didn't know you were dealing with those things."

"Sometimes..." Sozin said, not wanting to elaborate much.

Kira scratched her head, smacking her parched mouth. "Have you eaten already?"

Glancing over his shoulder, Sozin said, "No, actually, I was waiting for you."

"That's... rather thoughtful," Kira remarked. "Shall we eat then? I wouldn't want to keep you waiting."

Sozin rose from the ground. "It's no big deal..." he said as he brushed past Kira back into the nook. "I've gone for longer times without food when I was homeless in the streets."

"I'm sure..." Kira said as she followed him. "That must've been terrible. How did you manage?"

"I didn't manage," Sozin said. "I had no choice but to keep myself going somehow or just lie down and die. By some miracle, I chose the former."

"I see..." Kira said.

Sozin kneeled down to rummage through his supply basket. "Yeah, it was a tough time for me. Unfortunately, no one in the world really cares about some homeless man they don't know." As Sozin unsecured the lid to the basket and began to search for something to cook, realization crossed his face. "Ah, damn it..." he exclaimed.

"What?"

Sozin frowned. "We need water to cook, and we don't have enough. The only water in the area is down in the ravine, so... I guess we'll be having dry food this morning."

"That's fine," Kira said nonchalantly. Planting her hands on her lower back, she hovered behind the man, looking over his shoulder and into the basket with inquisitive eyes. "Whaddya got for us then?"

"Mochi rice cakes..." Sozin said as he pulled them out. The squares of gelatinous sweet rice were wrapped up in packages of four, and he handed one to Kira before taking one for himself. "Not very filling, but they'll get us by."

"Good enough for me," Kira smiled. "As long as I have something in my stomach to damper the alcohol..."

Sozin shook his head with a slight smirk.

After a quick and conversational breakfast of rice cakes and drink, the pair of warriors packed up their things and set off again for another day of arduous travel. It was bridge after bridge after bridge again for the next couple of hours, all the while, the sun ticked across the sky like the hand of a giant clock, providing a rough estimate of the time. Sozin thought it couldn't possibly move any slower than it already was, but when he focused on the position of the shadows, the sun seemed to stay frozen as though it was doing so solely to spite him.

Sozin stared mindlessly at his feet. He picked his head up when he noticed something falling from above. To his delight, a swath of dark clouds had moved in, creating gloom as they blotted out the sun and rained down a light snow. Powdery whiteness came down in small bits that flecked the sky and his clothes. With nothing better to do, he stuck his tongue out to catch a few flakes like a frivolous child to Kira's amusement. Miuran snow usually fell thick and thus the hearth ran with ash. They would know they've reached Tamura and civilization again when they spotted chimney smoke pluming high into the air.

Sozin considered himself a connoisseur of sightseeing since his profession, by nature, meant he got go to a lot of interesting places and see a lot of things. They weren't doing anything other than walking, so he had plenty of time to savor all the vistas and stave off some degree of boredom.

The Valley was incredibly beautiful in a grim and desolate sort of way, but it wasn't empty of life. Birds were the main attraction, flying overhead or nesting atop a collection of rocks. Sometimes they would pass a troop of snow monkeys, and Sozin would wave in hopes that one of them was smart enough to wave back. When one of them did, the more childish part of him came out—the real part, the original that had been mostly grinded away—and for a few tantalizing moments, it replaced his cold, calm, and calculating demeanor that years of maltreatment had crammed inside into a spirit where it didn't belong. Like a child who was just learning how to discover things, he had found himself enraptured. He was normally dark and brooding, so Kira simply smiled from beneath the brim of her hat as he told her what had happened, dignified but amused by his antics. As a people person, she was more interested in this new, brightly grinning man that was beginning to reveal himself than she was anything else. These past few days, she'd been given the privilege of witnessing more of that withdrawn side no one else got to see. It was a nice change of pace.

Their travels brought them to many twists and turns in the Valley, but the Valley, in its entirety, was heading in a single direction. At one point, they were walking off another bridge and starting into a short but shady tunnel of rock. The tunnel joined the two great cliffs making up the chasm. The river below followed along, passing underneath a large, naturally formed stone arch.

"Are we there yet?" Kira asked, her voice reverberating off the confines of the tunnel.

"You keep asking that," Sozin said with a tepid face. "No, we're not there yet."

"We should be," Kira said. "All this walking's got my feet aching. And I'm cold now."

Sozin glanced back momentarily at the woman. "We'll get there when we-" As he returned his attention to his front, Sozin's voice trailed off. He stopped talking and his eyes widened. Something had come into view and taken his breath away.

Kira sauntered up to Sozin, following the man's gaze curiously. Her face flickered in fearful astonishment once she saw what he was looking at. The other end of the tunnel had opened up into a spacious rift in the Valley that cut across the straightaway. To the left of them, in the corner of the rift and curled up around a spire of rock, a massive, slithery form was sleeping. It's scales, as big as dinner plates, were an ivory white against the washed out, stony gray of the Valley. The massive creature, built like a tube of muscle, gave a few breathy snorts from its slumber, curling up tighter around the spire of rock it had locked into a death grip.

_The Great Serpent,_ Sozin thought!

"Oh my god, it's real..." Kira said in a low voice. "And huge..."

Far down below, the river of water had reached a cul-de-sac and coalesced into a large, tranquil pool. The bridge leading across the gap went right by the Serpent.

Sozin peered down over the edge of the tunnel and then looked to the bridge. "You think it's a heavy sleeper?"

"Are you saying you want to cross?"

"Well, if it wakes up and finds us, what are we going to do?"

Kira paused to consider his question for a moment. "Just die, I suppose," she said dryly.

Sozin gave a chuckle. His eyes fell upon the swaying bridge that connected to the tunnel exit. "Let's not dwell on that then. There's no other way around, so we should go while we still have the chance. I think we can sneak past if we're careful."

Being a generally prudent man, Sozin was still weighing the merits of that course of action when he stepped onto the bridge, keeping his attentive eyes locked onto the Great Serpent as Kira followed closely behind. Gripping the ropes, they shuffled along with an apprehensive gait.

_Snap!_

A loose plank broke off the bridge.

The sound came from behind Sozin.

Halfway across the bridge, Sozin stopped in his tracks. He slowly turned his head around and cast Kira the death glare of a thousand daggers. Sheepish, Kira merely smiled at him and returned his intense gaze. As a result of his shinobi training, he had the benefit of a light footstep, but it seemed the samurai did not. He supposed he couldn't blame her. Glancing at the Serpent, Sozin breathed a sigh of relief. It was still sleeping.

It seemed they were in the clear as the creature hadn't heard the noise, but then, not a second later, the plank finished falling and hit the water far below them. Thick and heavy, it slapped against the surface like a gunshot, and the sound resounded off the rocky silence of the Valley's cliff walls.

Sozin grimaced.

_Oh, no..._

The Serpent's eyes shot open, revealing black slits for pupils.

Immediately, Sozin froze in place, not daring to move even a single muscle. Kira had the same idea, and she warily followed his lead. Maybe it wouldn't be able to see them if they didn't move. Was that simply a myth? Sozin wasn't sure, but he got his answer pretty quick when the Serpent stared in their direction, watching their forms carefully. With unblinking reptilian eyes, the enormous creature tilted its head and reeled back like a cobra about to strike. Sozin knew enough about snakes to know what that meant.

"Jump!" Sozin screamed frantically. "Jump!"

The Serpent immediately aimed its snout at the yelling man, the most obvious target. Sozin's eyes flared in alarm. He leapt off into the air, kicking out a violent stream of wind from his leg to create distance from the bridge just as the Serpent shrieked and tore through it like paper.

The bridge snapped in two and gave way under Kira. She suddenly found herself weightless and falling. A scream of pure terror came out, and she flailed helplessly without a clue in the world about how to save herself as she tumbled towards the water's surface. She accelerated like a cannonball, the rushing air rippling her loose, black robes. With a booming splash, she slammed into the water back first, the surface now like concrete at such high speeds. The stop was so abrupt, it jerked Kira's head back and forth as though it was a whip being cracked. In that instant, she'd expected her own death, but the basket of supplies she was carrying on her back had broken her fall into the water, and to her surprise, she was still conscious.

Lingering like a leaf in the breeze, Sozin was still in the air. He had delayed his fall somewhat with his windbending, but he couldn't fly. Realizing how fast he was falling, he threw off the straps of his own supply basket in midair to lighten himself. As the water's surface approached, his second nature kicked in, and he stiffened himself out, straightening into a blade. A mere blip on the water's surface as he made contact, he slipped into the dark depths of the pool as smooth as a knife through butter.

The water had been turned frigid by the icy tendrils of winter. It was colder than anything Sozin had ever experienced before. The temperatures shocked his body to the core, chilling his racing heart. Staying calm, he felt himself acclimatize, relaxed, and then focused on taking the breath that could not be taken. He forced himself to breath in, letting the cold pain of freezing water fill his lungs and energize every inch of his body. When he exhaled, what came out was not more water, but bubbles of air.

Sozin chose to let himself sink, falling deeper into the darkness but not so deep that he couldn't see beyond the water's surface anymore. He lingered there at that optimal depth. His vision was blurry and distorted, but he could tell that the snake was slithering about, looking for them from amongst the rocks.

Sozin waited a brief moment. When the snake's head was pointed elsewhere, he sucked in a large, watery breath to help himself rise and drifted to the surface, slowly poking his head above the water. In the distance, not too far away, he spied the mouth of a cave where the water's edge stopped short of. He didn't see Kira though.

_Kira!_

She couldn't swim, he remembered!

Sozin dipped back down into the murky waters, compelled by a sense of urgency for his comrade. As soon as he had sunk deep enough for the snake not to detect any disturbances on the surface, he began kicking, shooting out air from his feet and traversing the dark depths in large bursts. He recalled hearing a loud splash somewhere in the area, so Kira had to be close.

Sozin searched as best as he could. He wasn't sure where exactly to look besides in a general direction, so he could only hope that he ended up in the right spot. As it turned out, she wasn't very far. She was unconscious. He spotted her just in time—a blurry, dark form, motionless and sinking, about to slip too far beyond the light's reach into total blackness, death's clutches, where he wouldn't have been able to find her.

Swimming up to her before she could sink any further, Sozin fingers worked to undo the straps of her supply basket. When it was off, he seized a fistful of cloth within his hand, latching onto the nape of her black robes, and took off in a hurry. He dragged her limp body along fast like as he blasted his way towards the protection of the cave.

His heart raced.

The snake was watching and saw as Sozin broke from the water's surface and onto the enclosed shallows leading up to the cave. He had no time to wait for an opportune moment to move. Kira wasn't breathing. Her dead weight was hanging from his arm. He wasn't sure how long a person could go without oxygen, but his instincts told him not very long, and in this case, he was especially willing to trust his gut feelings. There was no time to think, and they had a habit of being right when they needed to.

As Sozin dragged Kira into the mouth of the cave, the stony walls tapered closer and closer, sheltering them. The snake pounded into cave entrance with its snout just as they had gotten far enough inside the safety of the walls that it couldn't reach them anymore. The head of the snake was simply too wide.

The snake pounded a few more times, attempting to reach them inside the cave, but for all its size and strength, it was useless trying to strike into such a small, confined space. Seemingly angered by their escape, the snake erupted into a throe of spasms, shrieking and smashing into the rocks with such might and rage that it shook the entire Valley. It kept trying to get at them. Loose pebbles in the cavern trickled down the cave's interior as Sozin set Kira onto the clammy cave floor, not wanting to waste any more precious seconds of her dwindling life.

If it was that smart, it the seemed the snake was trying collapse the cavern as a way to kill them. Spirits could be fairly intelligent, so Sozin didn't put it beside him. Ignoring the snake, he sat Kira upright and brought her into a forwards slump. He planted his bracing hand flatly onto her chest so that she was leaning into it. With force and speed, he delivered several swift blows to her backside and water immediately came spurting out. Kira took a reflex breath. Her eyes fluttered open in shock as she doubled over, planting her hands onto the ground into a vicious fit of coughing that nearly caused her to hack up her lungs.

Sozin patted her on the back as she got the last bits of water out from her system. Both of their clothes were drenched and they were dripping from end to end. Meanwhile, the snake was still working up a storm outside, it's defeaning shrieks ringing out in the Valley and throughout the cave. It was as though they were experiencing an earthquake.

A pained expression of confusion washed over Kira's face. Finding the ability to speak again, she spoke over the noise and shouted, "What's going on?"

Sozin grinned, an expression so unbefitting of the situation that Kira found his amusement to be rather strange. "The snake's a little mad!" he said.

The rocky ground they were kneeling on shook with force. They had no choice but to sit there and wait with their hands covering their ears as it sounded like hell was freezing over the Valley. The chaos going on outside eventually quieted down after a while and a harrowing silence took over in its wake.

"Did it leave?" Sozin asked.

"I don't know. Go check," Kira said.

It seemed the snake had gotten all of its anger out. Sozin went to the mouth of the cave to look outside, but it was still there. It was curled around the spire again and looking right at him. Sozin cursed as they made deadly eye contact before he turned back around. He assumed it waiting for them to leave. For a snake, it was pretty smart.

"Looks like we won't be going out that way," he said as he returned to Kira. "I don't think the Serpent wants us to leave."

"It's still there?"

"Yes... It's still there," Sozin said, more annoyed and disappointed than he was afraid.

Kira glanced towards inner workings of the cavern. "We should check out the cave. Maybe there's another exit to the surface."

"Are you sure? What if we get lost?"

"We won't get lost. I know my way around places," Kira said nonchalantly. She coughed a few more times and cleared her throat, still feeling some residual water in her lungs. "Thanks for the save by the way. Before I passed out, I thought I was going to drown."

"That's why were travelling as a pair, right? Even someone like me's gotta admit there's an advantage to numbers." Sozin brightened up, but then the warmth on his face faded slightly in seriousness. "You really need to learn how to swim though. It was so dark down there, that if I hadn't found you when I did, I would've never been able to."

"Duly noted. I'll put it on the bucket list then," Kira said.

They continued to talk about her dangerous lack of swimming skills as they went deeper. The cave system felt like a maze to Sozin, but Kira didn't seem to have any problem navigating it. Inside, the tunnels were wide and varied, leading to many different chambers, some small and others big. The tunnels were dark and dimly lit, so Kira firebended a small flame in the palm of her hand for them to see. They were occasionally graced with stray light from the day above that peered through cracks in the ceiling where stalagmites and bats roosted. Stagnant pools of water had collected in some places and a dull, incessant plop could always be heard, a constant drip, sporadic pitters and sometimes another patter echoing out from the darkness. Sozin could see how one might go mad with those sounds. Softly, the low howl of a drafty cavern running well into the cliffside whispered into his ears.

Kira shivered in her skin. Judging from how vigorously she was rubbing her shoulders, she was definitely feeling the cold too. She seemed to be handling it worse than him but hadn't said a word up to this point which he couldn't help but notice. There was nothing more uncomfortable than the sensation of cold, soggy clothes soaked in murky river water to go along with a frigid cave chill, and were it not socially taboo, Sozin would've most certainly taken them off. Soon, Kira's teeth began to chatter, and he couldn't help but say something about it.

"I can firebend too," Sozin spoke up. "You want me to bend a flame for you to get warm? It'll help dry you off."

"Don't bother," Kira chattered, clutching her sides. "That'll take too much energy. You'll tire yourself out making a flame big enough to do any good."

"All right..." Sozin said, his words resounding off the cave walls. Even though he wanted to do something to help, it would be disrespectful to coddle someone like her, so he let it go without further insistence. He wasn't done talking though and turned to her again when he thought of something else to say. "Are you scared of caves?" he added.

"No, but it is kind of creepy in here..." Kira said with a sideways glance. "Are you?"

"Maybe a little." Sozin gave a nervous grin. "We could get lost and no one would ever find us. Isn't that scary to you? You remember how to get back to the surface, right?"

"Don't worry about that," Kira reassured him. "I have a good memory. Just trust me..."

"If you say so..." Sozin relented. "We lost all our supplies so it wouldn't do us any good to stick around."

They continued to get deeper and deeper into the cavern system. The shuffle of Sozin's waraji and clack of Kira's geta sandals were like clockwork. Without the sun to keep track, he wasn't even sure how much time had passed when he decided to stop for a break.

"Hey, hold on a second," Sozin said as he came to a halt. "I need to take a piss. Could you look the other way?"

Kira pointed to another chamber of the cavern. "Just go around the corner. I'll wait for you here."

Sozin paused. He hesitated to agree but promptly gave in. "Okay..." he said breathily. For some reason, he was reluctant to leave Kira's side completely, feeling compelled to stay with her by some strange force, but did so anyway. He rounded the corner, found a nice spot that would do for his business, and lowered the front of his hakama to deliver a golden stream of yellow.

Sozin let out a long sigh.

Then he simply stared at the ceiling.

It was awkward knowing Kira could hear him not too far away. The sound of his liquidy release was incredibly clear, but he didn't dwell too much on that fact lest he become self-conscious. He hated being self-conscious. When he was done, he threw the front of his hakama over his groin and started walking back to Kira, however, when he rounded the corner again, she was nowhere to be seen.

_What?_

The cavern had changed completely. It looked entirely different to the one he had been in with Kira just moments earlier.

"Kira?" Sozin said as he glanced down both ends, tension in his darting eyes.

_Where did she go?_

"Hey! Kira!" Sozin said again, this time yelling. "Are you messing with me? This shit isn't funny!"

It was like she vanished into thin air. He couldn't see her anywhere and couldn't smell her either. Her scent had disappeared, not like she had left but as though she had never been around in the first place. The lack of bends in the tunnel and things to hide behind meant she couldn't actually be hiding from him even if she wanted to.

"Kira!" Sozin called out desperately one last time.

He waited, apprehension curling his fingers, but there was no response. All that came back were the eerie murmurs of the cave responding for her.

"Fucking hell..." Sozin whispered with frantic undertone. "People don't just disappear."

There was no way she could've left him behind. She was no shinobi, and he would've heard the clacking of her geta sandals as they trailed off. Besides, he was in a different location now.

That didn't add up.

Something wasn't quite right.

Moments later, the stench of death came—thick and redolent of rotting flesh.

"What the hell is that?" Sozin said, pinching his nose.

Strong as it wafted throughout the cavern, it forced a grimace as it took hold over Sozin's senses so suddenly. He had no idea where it had come from.

Bewildered, Sozin began to follow the stench to its source down the cavern, wondering how it could just appear out of nowhere when he had been walking in the area for a while already and hadn't caught whiff of it before. The entire cavern had changed on him and now this new smell had appeared. The normal logic of the universe didn't seem to be applying. That was something characteristic of genjutsu—illusion techniques often used by certain shinobi to befuddle their opponents—but that didn't make any sense. There was no one else around to cast an illusion onto him besides Kira, and as a samurai, it was unlikely she had any real idea of how to do that. Why would she even do that in the first place?

"I'm starting to regret coming down here. Dying in a cave is a really terrible way to go," Sozin said.

"I'm watching over you, brother," Wolf said from the spirit realm. "Believe me, your time has not come yet."

Sozin's face perked up in interest."You know when I'm going to die?"

"Indeed," Wolf said. "Every last detail about it too..."

"How do I die?"

Wolf laughed. "It's forbidden for me to tell you. If I did, it would change the course of your destiny. As your spirit guide, that would be irresponsible of me, wouldn't it? All you need to know is that everyone has a role to play in this world."

"I suppose we're on a need-to-know basis then?" Sozin muttered.

"Yeah..." Wolf said. "Sorry, bro, I want to tell you, but it's for your own good... Just keep following that weird smell. You'll figure something out. Seems like it'll lead us somewhere."

And, as it turns out, it did.

Down the cavern and around a bend, the cave opened up into a lofty, hollowed out chamber that was as big as an auditorium. As he entered the hollow, bats that had gathered near entrance gave a flurry of squeaks and took off at the first sign of the man, startling him as he entered. There were other entrances—multiple tunnels leading into the hollow from different directions and some beyond reach from ground level. The smell of death was incredibly strong here, but as far as he could tell, it seemed to be a just another normal section of the cavern.

That is, until he looked up at least.

Sozin's eyes followed the bats as they flew up and away towards the ceiling of the hollow. Hanging from amongst the stalagmites high above were dozens upon dozens of decaying bodies cocooned in a layer of webs. Bits of flesh stuck to them, still rotting away. Any exposed bone had been yellowed from exposure to the air. Some were skeletons entirely and had spiders crawling in and out of their eye sockets.

Alarms immediately went off in Sozin's mind. The bodies weren't bothering him so much as something else was. The cave brought with it a sense of dread and despair for some reason. He was about to turn the other way and leave, but something heavy slammed into the ground behind him. He froze instantly. Slight worry flickered across Sozin's face as his eyeballs tried to look around the side of his head. It sounded like a person had landed. Hesitating for a moment, he managed to muster up some courage and turned around to find out what it was, keeping a dark, unsmiling look on his face.

In front of him, he was greeted with a most unexpected sight. A tall, towering woman, slender and with thin black hair, was standing only a few strides away. Her bat-like wings, broad and stretched out for flight, fluttered to a close. She looked down upon his dwarfed form. Her skin was a pale grayish, as though she had been sculpted from clay, and she'd been given a voluptuous figure to match. Her black hole pupils—black like an abyss and endlessly cavernous to look at—were surrounded by a lambent ring of orange. Unlike Sozin's eyes which were more subdued, hers glowed eeriely in the bleak lighting that bled into the chamber from a breach in the upper wall of the cave. She wore a hood, but her outfit was somewhat revealing—a silky, sheening, dark purple dress exposing her shoulders, cleavage, midriff, and legs, all of which had been tattooed with demonic markings in black ink. It struck a healthy medium between being revealing and still leaving something to the imagination.

Something resembling shock crossed Sozin's stony face. There was only one thing that came to his mind.

_Yokai..._

And a succubus nonetheless. He understood now why things had gotten so strange all of a sudden. He was in her domain. The dark energies of this place must've been messing with him. Succubus were known to lead men astray, and seeing as he had felt something unnerving earlier, now he was finally able to put his finger on what exactly was the cause of it.

"You shouldn't be in here, boy..." The woman gave a sinister smile. Her lips were wide in lecherous desire. They were painted a maroon, irony red that seemed to be more the color of blood than it was lipstick.

"Demon..." Sozin murmured. The smell of death must've masked her scent otherwise he would've detected her and could've avoided this situation. He reached behind his head for the sword on his back, gripping it tightly like a security blanket as it rested in its sheath. He had heard stories of succubus, but at this point, he wasn't entirely sure of what was going to happen.

Looming closer, the woman clicked the black nails of her hand together. Much like claws, they were long and thin with sharp points at the end. "How cute..." she said. "You really think that sword is going to hurt me? Men can't hurt me. In your hands, it's nothing more than a toy."

"Who are you?" Sozin asked in a soft voice. He didn't want to risk offending the demon too much, so he let go of his weapon and decided to watch how he spoke.

"I... am Kurai On'na. I'm the one thing men like you should never run into. You're unlucky..."

"You don't scare me..." Sozin murmured.

"Don't get comfortable so quickly," Kurai warned sharply. "I'm afraid you're more lost than you realize. I haven't had a visitor in a long time, and I want to play. It's been boring by myself."

"I didn't mean to disturb you," Sozin said. "I just want to leave and be on my way."

"That's not going to happen. Normally, I have to drag your kind back to this place as they scream and kick, but you..." she leered in dark satisfaction. "You're already here..."

Sozin eyed the woman's mouth. "I've been wondering something. Is that lipstick... or blood?"

"You have a sharp eye for a man..." she remarked with intent. "It's the blood of men. Men are a pestilence on this Earth. For thousands of years, they've done nothing but spread war and misery across the land. They need to be rooted out and destroyed like the foul disease they are. Like you are..."

"So you intend to kill me?" Sozin asked frankly. "I thought you wanted to play."

"I meant playing with your life." Kurai grinned like a cheshire cat and gave a low, lascivious hum of a amusement. "I'm glad you've come, young wolf. Twice the souls, double the pleasure."

The succubus neared even closer now. She drifted over on the stilts of her red geta so exruciatingly close that Sozin could smell the stench of plague and death that she carried. The nefarious energies of the cave were conspiring against him, and they compelled him not to move. Her eyes as well. It was like they were locking him into place with some dark power as she put her willowy hands on his shoulders and squeezed, massaging with a blood-curdling grip that was strong enough to send a shiver up his spine. Her hands were heavy and cold. Even through his clothes, he could tell they were eager to melt his life force and leech it out from him like candy.

"Your death won't happen just yet..." Kurai continued, stroking the man's cheek with the back of her fingers. "First, we can play, and I assure you, it won't be fun for anyone but me. I'm going to make you bleed. The blood of your kind keeps me young." Kurai licked her lips, slurping with her slimy, black tongue.

Sozin's face remained solemn and uncompromising, but his eyes flared, turning psychotic. "I don't want to play with you," he said as he stared into her bottomless pits with his own.

"Too bad," Kurai said. "You won't have a choice."

She beckoned with her fingers like she was tugging on a dog leash. Again, Sozin's body was seized by the energies permeating from the cave and all around the demon. By the beckon of her fingers, he could tell she commanded them with total control and precision. They compelled Sozin to walk along Kurai's side as she led him to the edge of the chamber where there was rocky seat that resembled a throne.

"I can't control my limbs..." Sozin said inwardly.

"Looks like you're gonna have to talk your way out of this one, brother," Wolf said.

"You're saying that to the most socially awkward guy on this planet. You and me both," Sozin corrected. "Because you are as well..."

"Just try," Wolf said. "You—we—understand how people work."

"Understanding and getting along with are two entirely different things, Wolf," Sozin said. "I don't know if I've got it in me."

"It's worth a shot," Wolf said. "Don't try and fight her. As a man, you'll die for sure against an opponent like this."

"Maybe I can run away..." Sozin said. "I'm good at that. I just have to create an opening."

It was strange feeling his own body move without him willing it to do so. Sozin felt himself sit down at the throne. Even if he could, he wouldn't dare make a move as she straddled his lap and watched him like a hawk. The air around her became cold and dark with her presence as she sank into him and threw her arms around his neck. She was incredibly heavy for a man his size. Her body was much bigger than his and it made him look like a child in comparison.

Sozin's eyes drooped glumly. "This is incredibly emasculating..." he said inwardly.

"Get used to it. Not our fault, but we were born small and weak," Wolf said.

"Doesn't mean I can't complain," Sozin said. "I've been short and skinny all my life just like you."

Sozin turned his attention back to the real world.

As Kurai relaxed into her newfound seat, the grip her dark energy had on him lessened slightly. "Most men are used to flaunting their strength over women..." Kurai On'na sneered. "But that won't work on me..." She took in the expression on Sozin's face as he soaked up the gravity of the situation. "That's right... How does it feel?"

She misunderstood the situation. She thought he was afraid? Sozin grinned back defiantly and then gave a few black, mirthless giggles. There was not a single trace of consternation on his face. An amused sense of insanity smeared his voice, and he said, "You really think women are any better, demon?" The man's words dropped into a quiet intensity, and he stared into Kurai's penetrating eyes with ones of his own. "My own mother used to beat me..." he spat in pure venom, baring his teeth. "In fact... she even gave me the scars on my cheek to remember her by. I hate women like you... I hate them all with a passion."

"Awww... Someone's been rejected a lot, hasn't he?" Kurai brought one of her arms back from around his neck and cradled his chin with two patronizing fingers. "Do you want me to take care of you, little man?"

Years of neglect by the opposite sex had been pent up inside him. Sozin let out a savage growl as he snatched Kurai's arm by the wrist, but she swiftly deflected his attempt to stop her and pinned the offending appendage against the rocky throne.

"Stop resisting!" Kurai snarled. "I'm in control here!"

Wild-eyed, Sozin grinned like a jester that had gone insane. He giggled at the level of power a mere change in perspective could bring. It was truly amazing. She couldn't do anything to him if he had nothing to lose. "You can play these games with me all you want, but you won't break me..." he said.

"I won't. It seems someone or something else has already done that," Kurai said. "But that doesn't mean you can't feel pain anymore. What do you think?"

"I think Adam should've kept his rib to himself," Sozin snickered like the cynical and bitter runt of a stray wolf that he was.

With a blur of her hand, Kurai latched onto Sozin's face and dug her nails under the skin of Sozin's cheek. She drew crimson blood that cascaded down against his light complexion and silenced him. "I suggest you watch your tongue, boy... unless you want me to cut it out and give you another scar," Kurai said.

An eerie calm fell upon Sozin's face. He knew himself better than anyone, and he was always in control of his every emotion if push came to shove. His inhibitions were self-imposed. He could be as wild or as unleashed as he wanted himself to be, and in this moment, he chose to be perfectly calm, like a falling hammer that had stopped just short of a pane of glass. "Only my father used to call me boy..." he said with disdain.

"I'm millenia old. That's all you are to me," Kurai talked as though he was worth less than the dirt and dust on the cave floor.

"Millenia, huh?" Sozin pondered. "So you're like the ultimate cougar then? I wouldn't be surprised if you bite my head off like a praying mantis or something."

"That would be too easy," Kurai said. "I won't be showing you such lenience."

"Trust me, you don't want my body," Sozin said. "I'm a virgin."

"I know..." Kurai said scathingly. "But that's even better... The freshest fruit is always the tastiest."

"Tell me," Sozin said. "Are the legends true? I hear penetrating a succubus is akin to penetrating a cavern of ice spikes."

"Why don't you find out?" Kurai said in a low, threatening murmur.

"No thanks," Sozin shrugged with his face. "Sorry, but I jacked off this morning."

That one managed to get a short chuckle out of the demon, but her sense of humor quickly passed. "Monks should know better than to lie," she smirked darkly. "You're a bad liar... Several years bad... If you won't play along, then I'll do it myself."

Sozin felt the energy within his body loosen again. Her grip on him had relaxed further. He had enough freedom for him to maneuever his arm, and it seemed to be just in time too.

_Oh, believe me, I am playing along,_ he thought.

Kurai's icy fingers clutched at the waistband of Sozin's hakama. He had to make a move now before she realized he was free and seized control over him again. She had his right hand physically pinned, but his left was still lurking under his cape. Screw talking his way out. The smoke bombs were still there. That was good since he had a hunch that her powers worked by way of sight. Discreetly, he conjured up a quiet flame onto the tips of his index and middle, and it began to sear straight through the protective covering of one of the bombs.

"You ever smoked before?" Sozin asked innocently.

A puzzled look washed over Kurai's face. She stopped just as she was about to grip him by his vulnerables with her claws. "What?" she uttered.

The man gave a deranged smile. "I didn't think so..."

Sozin snapped his eyes shut and held his breath. The bomb under his cape exploded, expanding with a poofy boom that filled their corner of the hollow. Kurai let out a stunned cry, and there was a break in the chains she had him in. It should keep her busy long enough. Acting quickly, Sozin shoved Kurai off of him and bolted for the closest tunnel under the cover of the smoke. It was the one where he had come from. The smoke's range only extended so far, and the entrance into the tunnel leading out of the hollow was beyond its protection. With no other choice, Sozin slipped out of the smoke to disappear into the dark tunnel.

Sozin lurched into a backwards lean.

His feet began dragging as his limbs froze for a second time. He tried to resist, but he was pulled along like a puppet that was having its strings yanked a little too hard.

Kurai had recovered.

Faster than he thought she would.

"Being naughty, are we?" Kurai seethed. Her voice exploded into the pits of wrath. "I don't have patience for bad guests!"

Sozin's feet suddenly left the ground as she dragged him nearer and higher. She raised him well into the air, and then the crushing started. With her controlling hand, Kurai curled her fingers inwards and twisted viciously, eliciting a short, shocked scream from Sozin. His flesh squelched as it was crushed. He felt like his limbs were going to cave in from the pressure she was exerting, and he yelled more in excruciating pain. Like a ragdoll that had gone haywire, his body suddenly twisted and contorted in ways it wasn't supposed to with pops, and rips, and crippling sounds. His neck, too, had begun to twist beyond its limits, nearly more than it could without killing him.

"You thought were going to escape?" Kurai boomed. "You'll never find your way out of here. Once you're in, men can't leave!"

"Come on, brother! Fight! FIIIIIIIIIGHT!" Wolf raged with bared teeth.

The harrowing inspiration in his brother's voice sent a chill up Sozin's spine. He gritted his own teeth, grimacing and fighting with all his strength to resist the demon's control. He could delay his death, but not prevent it. It was soon going to be of no use to resist. His muscles were being torn into cement.

Then he remembered somebody.

"KIRA!" Sozin cried out, hoarse with desperation. "HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!"

"Oh," Kurai said, intrigued by this particular outburst. Her voice paid not even the slightest amount of attention to the man's suffering. "You came here with a woman?"

Kurai squeezed her fingers tighter. His breath seized, and Sozin found his tongue hitching in the back of his throat like a broken recorder as she flung him to the side as though he was trash. Her grip released but something was ripped away as she let go. Fortunately, nothing snapped or got broken, but all of the man's energy was instantly drained, and Sozin hit the ground in a heap with an oof, unable to save himself from the splash onto the hard cave rock. Facedown, his eyelids drooped as he sprawled out and scraped the floor with his cheek.

Sozin groaned in pain. He was barely conscious and felt like falling asleep, but saw through his heavy eyes as a hatted black form with red highlights jumped down spectacularly from one of the tunnels in the cave.

Sozin grinned weakly. "Ye-a-aaah!" he gave in a feeble cheer, barely speaking louder than a murmur. His lips started into a sad chuckle, and then he coughed up blood. His arm tried to move to give a fist pump but it didn't work. If he knew his mythology right, the succubus's powers probably didn't have an effect on other women, so Kira was on even ground.

Kira gripped her twin katana in her hands, the blades splaying low in front of her. "Let him go," she commanded sternly. She hadn't yelled or raised her voice at all, and yet, her words had the audible presence of one.

"Really, honey? This misogynist trash?" Kurai On'na chuckled. "One woman to another, what could you possibly see in him? Just let him die, darling. You're not protecting anything important."

"That's not for you to decide." Kira's eyes darted towards Sozin's beaten up form.

"Does he mean that much to you?" Kurai said in frustrated disbelief.

Kira took an aggressive step forward. "He saved my life."

"For selfish reasons, I'm sure. If his worthless value as a man means that much to you, then you're a fool! You will die along with him!" Kurai shouted angrily.

Kurai spread her wings, rising high into the air with a blast of dust off the floor. Going for a something fast, she shot out the palm of her hand and fired a circular shockwave of purple energy in Kira's direction, delivering the next one in quick succession from the other hand, and then another, and another like a piston, quickly alternating between hands to send a slamfire of danger rocketing in her direction. Kira recognized the attacks as similar to one of her own. Using that knowledge, she cut through the middle of the first shockwave, creating a safe pocket of air where both sides of the shockwave veered away from her as they split. She did the same with the ones that followed and the shockwaves collided into the rocks behind her, dispersing harmlessly.

In the art of swordsmanship, there existed many stances, but Kira had an affinity for a few in particular. Edging forward into a slight lean, she adjusted her arms from her defensive stance and settled into her feet into a new one as was natural for her by now. Facing sideways, she held the hilt of her left sword by the neck, the blade itself extending behind her while the right-hand sword did the same from the end of her outstretched arm. Crouching Tiger was much more aggressive than her more open, forward-facing stance, Praying Mantis, where both her swords were primed to intercept any attack in front of her like the projecting teeth of a two-tined prong. In this stance, the sword by the neck would primarily defend while the one near the hip would be ready to exploit any particular opening that may arise during battle. Crouching Tiger was one of the most balanced stances a dual-wielding samurai could take, but compared to Praying Mantis, it seemed aggressive because it wasn't entirely defense-based.

Glowering, Kurai On'na didn't look too happy to see that Kira had some skill and was going to present a problem. "Seems you're more than I'd like to deal with right now. We can fix that."

Kurai snapped open her voracious jaws, revealing a pestilent tongue and rows of sharp fangs. An acid-covered sword arose from the depths of her black throat. In less than a second, she was already diving at Kira with the sword still lodged in her esophagus. Eyes flaring, Kira saw the attack coming and rolled away from it just in time. Kurai blew past and touched down elegantly onto the tips of her stilt sandals.

Exiting the roll, Kira imbued her swords in a sheath of brilliant fire with a flaunt. Demons were powerful, and it could be difficult to control their power, but the light and burn of flame was their achilles heel. It would weaken the demon, but also, potentially, herself as well. She would have to be careful not to tire herself out since elementbending was taxing on the body, and for that reason, it was rarely the main method of attack for any warrior. On the other hand, a blade didn't run on energy would never run out no matter how much you swung it.

Charging her arm back, Kira unleashed the full wrath of her power onto Kurai in a single, violent slice that ripped through the air. Her flaming slash cut across violently, creating a blanket as she spun around with the momentum of her attack and then followed up by kicking out a blast of raging fire from her foot.

All the while, some distance away, Kurai hovered just above the floor and used her wings to weave in-between the strikes as they both came. She finished reguritating the sword in her throat into her hands and slashed wildly with it, initiating an onslaught against Kira as her stilts met the ground again in front of the woman.

Getting into a groove, Kira deflected every attack, the pitch rising into a crescendo at the final blow—a perfect deflection that rattled her eardrums. There was an opening. Kira slammed her foot into the ground and a chunk of rock burst up from the floor where Kurai was standing. Kira had hoped it would unbalance the demon, but Kurai bounded into the air with the force of the rock, threw her sword aside, splayed both her hands outwards, and began raining down a hailstorm of piercing fingernails from the ends of her ten fingers as she arched overhead.

Like shrapnel from a bomb, the tiny spikes whizzed everywhere in Kira's direction—left, right, and center. Kira was forced to turn around as she blocked furiously using her flaming swords, trying to keep up with so many small, speedy little things that were intending to perforate her into a bloody mass of swiss cheese.

Kurai hit the ground a second later. A crater exploded from Kurai's epicenter as she practically imploded into the rock floor with a level of weight unbefitting of anything other than a large boulder. The cave boomed in protest. Kicking up dust, the force of the landing generated a huge gust of wind that was strong enough to blow Kira away, whisking her off her feet. Kira gave an utter of surprise. She found herself tumbling over, head over heels once, and then landed flat on her face with a grunt.

Flying low to the ground, Kurai sped for Kira like an oncoming train of death. "This is where you die!" she screamed harshly.

One frantic glance later, and there was a rush in Kira's veins. It kicked her into gear, and she started scrambling off the floor messily but as quickly as she could. In that split second, she still had enough composure to realize that Kurai didn't have a sword anymore.

Kurai shouted and clawed for Kira's throat.

But Kira was already bursting from the floor. In one, flaming slash, she severed the attacking arm at the fore as she rose. Shock instantly flickered across Kurai's face. Before the arm even had time to fall, Kira spun around, dextrous hands flipping her swords into a reverse grip, and sank both of their blades deep into the demon's chest. There was a hitch in Kurai's voice. Demons weren't immortal. Straining, Kira hoisted Kurai's body into the air and threw it over her with a thud onto the ground. Without the slightest bit of hesitation, she smashed the demon's brains in with a stomp that sent red bits and brains flying everywhere.

That was it.

It was over.

With a brandish of her swords, Kira extinguished the flames on her blades. "Never bring nails to a sword fight," she said, smooth and dignified.

Kira sheathed the blades with a conclusive _shing_. Her own nails were plain, unpainted, and even cracked in some places, but they never shied away from being useful. She inspected them with a brief smirk before remembering that she hadn't come here alone.

Hurried footsteps made their way over to Sozin's sprawled body. He was damaged, but conscious as he watched her approach. There were red splotches on the cave floor where he had been coughing up blood as he watched the fight happen.

"You good, Sozin?" Kira exclaimed in a soft voice as she crouched down by his side.

Sozin swallowed and let out a lengthy huff. "Y'know..." he started slowly in a weak voice, "when I fantasized about two women fighting over me, this is not how I imagined it. She nearly raped me."

Kira shrugged. "Crazy bitches, am I right?"

"You can say that again."

Kira's nose chuffed in amusement. "You look terrible," she said plainly.

"I think I'm fine now that you've killed her..." Chuckling, Sozin coughed a few more times. "I'm still a little fucked up, but I feel like a weight's been lifted off my shoulders."

"I'll say..." Kira said. "I was looking for you everywhere. I thought you abandoned me."

"Abandoned you?" Sozin said with a puzzled expression. He groaned as he began to clamber onto his feet, and Kira helped him. "I didn't mean to. I don't know how, but I got lost. That succubus lady had some weird kind of curse on this place that only affects men. I don't feel it anymore, but I'm sticking by your side from now on until we get out of here."

Kira patted Sozin on the shoulder, a positive warmth on her face. "Well, the important thing is... you're safe."

Sozin gave a weak smile, his voice fluttering. He gripped his shoulder with the other hand and was slumping in his posture. "Man, I'm exhausted..." he said.

"You sure look like it," Kira replied.

The two warriors exchanged a mutual gaze of relief.

Catching her off guard, Sozin pulled Kira into a swift hug using whatever energy he had left. He wrapped his arms around her with zero inhibition.

"Oh!" Kira blurted out in pleasant surprise. A cheerful grin brightened her expression, and she let out a few light, breathy laughs. "This is unexpected." Intensely aware, she could feel her boobs pressing into his chest from underneath her robes and wraps, but he didn't seem to notice or care much about that. He was simply thanking her.

Sozin hugged the woman tight. "You know, I would've made this journey alone, but now I'm really glad you came along. Otherwise, it would've ended here," he chuckled.

Her arms were squished at her sides by Sozin's own, but Kira wriggled them out from under his pressure and returned the hug with a strained voice. "No problem..." she croaked slightly, shifting in his embrace. Still wet and cold, Sozin's warmer body was more than welcoming to Kira's own, soggy clothes and all.

Sozin's nose caught scent of something. He pulled back from the hug with a jostle so he could see Kira's face, her loose, inky black hair swishing gently from the motion. Bewildered, he sniffed the woman's neck. "Hm..." he pondered. "Why do you smell like that?"

"What? Do I smell bad?" Kira asked from beneath her hat.

Sozin sniffed again, consideration crossing his face. "No, you smell fresh..." he said gleefully. "Like glistening dew on a cool spring morning."

Kira's brow crinkled as she considered his words for a brief moment. Flattered, but also intrigued, she said, "That's oddly specific... and... poetic..."

"Must be the river water. I have a strong nose." Sozin let Kira go and gave her some breathing room. He glanced up to the numerous dead bodies strung across the cave ceiling like holiday streamers. "I suppose this makes us even again, not that I'm counting. Let's get out of here now... This place makes me uncomfortable..."

Sozin started to walk away, taking an eager step.

"Hold on a second," Kira spoke up, stretching her arm out to stop him.

"What?"

Uncertainty mixed in with a crinkling of Kira' features. She turned pensive. "Are you... really a misogynist, Sozin?"

"Is that what you're thinking about?"

"Yes..."

Sozin sniffled. It was clear that he hadn't expected this question, so he took a heavy second to think of a good but honest response. "Not entirely... if that's any consolation," he said after a pause.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean..." Sozin's eyes flickered away for a moment. "You're the only woman I don't hate..."

"But I don't understand that. A misogynist hates women..." Kira said. She splayed her fingers onto her chest, gesturing to herself. Her voice fell into sad disappointment. "And, I'm a woman..."

"I know, but I don't hate you, Kira. I haven't known you very long, but I've never treated you bad, have I?"

"No, but still..." Kira said. "It kind of bothers me."

"You're not women though, Kira. You're _'a' _woman. You're... a unicorn..." Sozin gave a flustered chuckle. "The distinction is important," he added as he stuck his hands into the pockets of his hakama.

Kira crossed her arms. "A unicorn?"

"Yeah, I would say that's an accurate descriptor."

"Never been called that one before, and I've been called a lot of things by men."

Sozin nestled the tip of his thumb between his outer lips, his other arm propping the elbow up. His eyes turned contemplating and seemed to glaze over for a second or two. "It's a very particular word for a very particular woman..." he murmured, nodding slowly to himself. Snapping back to reality, he continued, saying "Listen, just know that I have my reasons for my misogyny."

"Very well..." Kira said. "I can't complain since I probably hate men more than you hate women."

"Do you really?" Sozin asked.

"Yep..." Kira said casually. "I hate everyone."

"Hey, me too!" Sozin cheered, throwing his arms open like it was a fun surprise. "Maybe women a little more, but I guess that actually makes me a misanthropist then."

Kira shook her head and laughed. "I suppose we all have our reasons for things. Let's get out of here, Sozin."

"Oh yeah, I'm right behind you," Sozin said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote the second half of the chapter while high. Sorry if that shows.


	16. Weaves of Fate

Finding their way out of the cave proved to be challenging, but with some trial and error and Kira's apt guidance, they managed to make it out safely without running into harm's way again. Once they were free, the warriors returned to their original route walking from bridge to careening bridge. The Great Serpent was nowhere to be seen. Their encounter with the creature had cost them their supplies, but fortunately, the Valley didn't continue on for much farther, and by the end of the day, they had crossed into Tamuran territory beyond enemy lines.

Since they were on the outskirts of Tamura, what was formerly Ishidan territory, there wasn't much to see beyond the wake of destruction that the Tamuran army had left behind for its citizens to clean up. In all honesty, Sozin had to admit to himself that he had no idea where they were. They'd lost their only map along with the rest of their supplies back in the Valley. Despite that, he did know what direction they had to head in if they were going to find civilization again. The sun set in the West, and West was where they wanted to go. For what seemed like forever, they walked in that direction along a deserted road that led through a shady forest, passing by burnt buildings and destroyed settlements. All of them were casualties of war. Scorched-earth tactics.

As beautiful as it was to be in the countryside, especially for a farmgirl like Kira, it would do the pair no good if they remained for longer than they had to. The war would not wait for them and every minute not spent ending it was a moment wasted and an opportunity lost. With those hurrisome thoughts on Sozin's mind, he wasted not a single second. The pair travelled from dawn until dusk at a brisk pace. They needed to get into town where they would be able to take a train towards the more populated areas of the nation. That's where a difference was to be made in ending the Iron War.

Being an incredibly large country, a few uneventful days went by in Tamura as they travelled across the land. Their lack of supplies from the run-in with the snake was unfortunate, but it wouldn't do to march on an empty stomach. The bounties of the woods made for good hunting practice on Sozin's part, much to Kira's admiration. She got to see a glimpse of his shinobi survival training and what it meant to persist on your own in the untamed wilds.

Progress was good and they were making excellent time. Eventually, the warriors found themselves stopping to rest beside a creek running amongst the thickets and brush. It was winter and all but the evergreens had already shed their leaves. Unfortunately for them, it was still too early in the season and it hadn't snowed yet, otherwise they wouldn't have had to make this stop. With water being the only thing Sozin couldn't provide, they needed to take this opportunity to drink.

As Kira kneeled down to take a sip from the creek, golden sunlight bathing her form, some distance away, Sozin leaned against the rough bark of a tree, taking in the sweet scent of the brisk seasonal air. Except... the only problem was it didn't seem so sweet right now.

Crossing his arms, Sozin listened to the running water's soft hum and the sound of birds chirping until Kira returned to his side. The man had a look of sad ponderance on his face. Having gotten a feel for the man's energy, Kira noticed and immediately knew something was wrong, but she couldn't read thoughts and wasn't sure of exactly what was going on in his head. However, she could make a few educated guesses. To her eyes, this time he was slightly different, off in some strange respect, but having seen so much of it before in their time together, she was inclined dismiss it as another one of his typical brooding sessions.

Something told her not to.

Kira wiped the dampness of river water off her mouth with the broad of her wrist. "Are... you ready to get moving again?" she asked tentatively. His shadow seemed two shades darker than usual and thrice as cold.

"Not yet..." Sozin murmured. The man's eyes filled with a vague sense of heaviness. Foreboding currents seemed to gather around him. It was clear that he wanted to have a discussion. Contemplating something, the man took a brief moment to collect himself before deciding to speak any further. "So we're here... We finally made it, huh?" he continued.

"We did," Kira said, shrugging with a silly smirk as she rolled her head to the side. "Bit of a rough journey, but I think the hard part is over."

"The hard part..." Sozin's lips lingered in dark mystery. He wagged his finger with a flair of intent. "That's just it, Kira..."

"What is?"

"The fact that it isn't over... Now that we're in Tamura... I have to ask you something important," Sozin said. "Something incredibly important."

"Okay..." Kira said. "Is something wrong?"

"In a way..." Sozin admitted casually before turning serious again. "Before we set off on this journey, I told you the reason I wanted to come here in the first place. I told you it was because I wanted to end the war, but now that we're here... now that I've gotten to know you better... I don't know you if you can follow me along this path of hatred I'm carving for myself."

"Path of hatred? What are you talking about?" Kira's face eroded into concern. "Are you all right?"

"For a man in my position, I'm perfectly fine, Kira..." Sozin said with eerie intensity. The psychotic swirls within his demonic red eyes drew her attention in like a moth to a flame. He wanted to reveal this part of him to her. He wanted to see how she reacted. "In fact, things have never been more clear in my life..." he added lowly.

Kira's lips tensed together. "You don't sound fine to me."

"That's because my whole life has been filled with nothing but suffering and misery, but believe me..." Sozin warned, "soon it will all come to a head." The man gestured openly with his hands in sincere honesty. "That's why I want to talk to you, Kira. I want to make sure you understand me completely before we go any further down this perilous road."

"I'm listening then..." Kira said. "What is it that you want to tell me?"

Sozin's eyes flickered between her and the ground, perhaps questioning the wisdom of his current decision to reveal himself, but then they narrowed in grim determination. It wasn't like he could turn back now anyway. He had to commit.

And so he did.

"I just hate this fuckin' world, Kira..." he spat with as much vitriol as he could. Enough to make even the Devil himself shudder. "I hate everything about it, and I especially hate the fucking human worms that make this shithole their home..."

Kira blinked. Her gazing orbs inflated in surprise, but she kept them steady on Sozin's own. The man had raised a steady hand to his temple, as though he was trying to keep a vein from popping as he stared at her. She hadn't expected to see or hear any of that. With the way he said it, she felt a pang of dismay shudder through her heart. He could've killed someone with how much venom he had injected into those harrowing words.

"You... what?" she said, doing a double-take.

"You heard what I said..." Sozin uttered menacingly. "I know you did..."

"W-why?" was all Kira uttered back.

"Because every day... is a terrible day for me, Kira..." Sozin drawled in a terrible murmur, nodding slowly with spine-chilling intent. He leaned forward off the tree and started stalking back and forth, pacing around like a contained madman, a dictator with his hands clasped behind his back. "I am so tired... of waking up every day and feeling like I am surrounded by apes that do _nothing _but throw shit at each other and play petty social games!" he blurted out, rising into a quick yell before falling quieter again. "War... society... life... if you break it down, it's all one big rat race. The world is funny like that, isn't it?"

Sozin lulled into a short but menacing pause. He wanted to speak more, and so he began to a little faster this time. He began to go off like the trigger of a gun let loose.

"And I am a victim of that rat race," he continued. "An underdog. A loser! With the way people have treated me, I should be a mass murderer," he seethed, clenching his fists in front of him and digging the nails into his palms with an angry grimace, "and that would be well within my right, but I just don't understand it. All these... sorry excuses for human beings... they act in a certain negative way, they constantly bring others down to raise themselves up and establish a hierarchy, but then, suddenly, when those at the bottom complain and decide to rise up, they get mad. Everyone is guilty of it in some way or another. From rebellions against the state to vengeful murderers and hateful psychopaths like myself, neglect happens at every level of humanity until it explodes and manifests as something worse. No one seems to want to accept the fact that we create our own monsters, and as far as I'm concerned, we deserve everything we get as a result of that ignorance. You don't get to complain in that situation!"

"Where are you going with this, Sozin?" Kira murmured. She was solemn and relaxed in a way few could ever be in the face of such insanity.

"Where I'm going is—you think anyone had any sympathy for me at any point my life?" Sozin said. "One person!" he shouted. "One! And he was taken away from me! I'll be damned, even if it's the last thing I fucking do, I am going to show this world exactly what a man is capable of when you back him into a corner with no pleasurable way out. Don't you see? People are the same everywhere you go, and those in charge of this country are no different. As much as I would love to kill the people who've hurt me, it doesn't truly matter who I get because they're all in the same goddamn boat! I am going to slaughter them all like vermin because that is what they are and that is what they fucking deserve. I have always been treated like a villain, and if that's what everyone wants me to be, then I'm going to be just that. The best villain! They've groomed me for this position whether they intended to or not."

Kira's orange eyes, pensive and composed with a touch of sorrow, studied Sozin carefully. "Is that what you really think?"

"It is..." Sozin grinned, chuckling toothily with a cocky, charming arrogance. There was a hint of insanity to his mannerisms. "This is my true self," he said. "You think I am what I am because I want to be? You might think I'm crazy, and maybe that's true, but we live a mad world. I might as well be the sanest person alive."

"That's... a peculiar way of looking at things," Kira said in deep consideration, brows creased and eyes down. She had never seen him this charged up before and it was unpleasant to say the least. "How can you be so sure you're not deluding yourself?" she said.

"I can't..." Sozin said. "Maybe I am just insane. I can't dismiss that possibility, but if I am, no one can really blame me after what I've been through, can they? Then again," he chuckled with devilish flare, "maybe I'm not."

A brief silence weighed down upon them. Sozin couldn't help but take note of how Kira was watching him. Suspecting something, his rough features softened, and he put a hand on Kira's shoulder, taking solace when she didn't tense up from the touch of his hand. From that alone, he could tell she was really as open to him as she seemed.

"You know... it just hit me," Sozin said in realization. "You want to know what I like about you, Kira?"

"What do you like about me, Sozin?" Kira played along.

"Your attitude..." Sozin remarked, letting his hand fall off her shoulder. "I've noticed that you've spent this entire time not necessarily judging me as much as trying to understand where I'm coming from. Your first reaction was not to interject with your own opinion, but to be inquisitive and try to understand my own." Pain from a troubled past flickered across Sozin's face. "Somehow..." he said in pensive wonder, "you can just stand there and listen to me spout all these crazy, wild things and genuinely try to understand without an emotional response. You know, I really like that about you. You see, that's rare. That's a gift. Most people would've either left by now or started going off on me and calling me insane right off the bat... but not you. No, not you..."

Kira let out a thoughtful exhale. He was the first person to ever notice that about her. "I suppose I've always been that way," she said, remembering how people used to treat her as a kid. When she wore a different mask.

"You're a very intelligent woman, Kira... which is... why I want you to join me on my mission. As someone who has been neglected as well, I'm willing to bet you understand at least a glimmer of what I'm talking about."

"I do... And I believe in ending the war, although, I don't think your mentality is very healthy."

"That's a fair point. I'm willing to admit that."

"Sozin, look..." Kira said. "I'm trying my best to understand, but if I'm being honest with you, you're really scaring me and I'm worried."

"I know..." Sozin said softly, a glum expression coming over him as his eyes averted and he relented. "I understand if you no longer want to be around me, so I'm going to leave it up to you. Now, I've brought you all this way Tamura as you wanted and you're out of reach of those men that were chasing you, but it's your choice if you want to stick around with me or not. Even though I think I could do it by myself, my goal is to dismantle an entire country, and it would be nice to have your skillset and expertise... and maybe... just someone by my side." Sozin stuck his hand out for an agreement. "What do you say, Kira? Will you join me?"

Kira wallowed in her thoughts. Her dignified demeanor could make her difficult to read at times, but Sozin supposed that was simply the nature of the fox. Her face was like murky water and the thoughts behind it were much like what churned beneath the surface of a lake. Like many things, the water had to eventually calm down and settle. After a moment of heavy thought, something compelled Kira into action, and she reached out and gripped Sozin's extended hand.

"I'm in..." she declared firmly.

_She's in..._

_Great, she's in..._

She had taken it better than he thought she would. An uneasy wave of joy shimmered across Sozin's face as he let out a trembling exhale. Another part of him came to light. He grinned with a vulnerable sort of delicacy to his smile, as though she was going to revoke their agreement in the next moment, his fingers shifting warily within the porcelain softness of her hand. Their comforting smoothness was the mark of an elegant fighter that relied on her weapons more than her fists. As quick as it had come, any trouble within his heart found itself washing away along with his doubts about the woman when he saw her lips curve up in response to him.

"Surprised or something?" Kira asked with a hint of playfulness.

"No, no, I'm just..."

Sozin's voice trailed off. This was a big milestone. There was a mutual understanding between them as they exchanged gazes. They had both suffered, but while the wolf had turned his suffering into anger and hatred, the fox had turned it into apathy and disgust for the world, choosing to wander without aim. They would both meet here in the middleground with a common goal and purpose, that much was clear.

"I'm just happy I won't have to do this alone..." Sozin finished as he snapped out of his trance and slipped his hand away from hers. "I would've respected your decision either way, but I'm glad I don't have to lose the only friend I've ever had."

A thick haze, redolent of understanding, crowded Kira's pained face. "I'm your first friend?" she said, her head cocking slightly to the side.

The warmth on Sozin's face faded like dust in the wind. "Yeah..." he breathed out in pitiful shame. There was a great exhaustion to his voice that no young man at his age should ever be carrying.

Kira gave a wince of empathy as the man spoke. She was right in making this decision—someone ought to keep an eye on him, and she was happy it was her. Much like him, she was also tired of many things in life and that could be a dangerous thing. Her own voice was reminiscient of a weary traveller coming across another on the same path. "Seems we're in the same boat then..." she murmured back.

Sozin smiled weakly, returning her sentiment as best as anyone in his position could. "Seems we are..." he said.

And so it was settled.

It felt more than good to wipe the proverbial brow. Words could not describe how relieved Sozin was to have that matter taken care of and behind him already. Fairly quickly, they were on the road and moving again, leaving that place in the woods behind as two shadows reaching out over the ground with every inch the sun began to move across the sky. Walking wasn't always the best way to get around though. There were more modern methods to take into consideration, so, after hitching a ride with a travelling merchant heading in the same direction, they managed to make it into the nearest Tamuran town around midday during the hustle and bustle of commerce.

It was a bright and sunny day in Tanoshi. Compared to being under the chilling shade of the forest canopy, the open streets made the cold of winter that much more bearable with the sun's rays to help tolerate it. At this time, the town was quite busy and teeming with a messy kind of life. Boisterous kids played with each other in the alleyways, the conversation of business was in the air, and a river of people constantly moved throughout the wide channels of road carved all around town. According to the locals, the train station was all the way on the other side of where they were, so they decided to explore a little as they made their way over.

Even though he kept to himself, as a shinobi, Sozin was a naturally nosy person and liked to eavesdrop whenever he could. At the street corners, robed heralds were constantly working the crowds, calling out for any young men willing to join up in the war effort in between the litanies of news that they spouted. Sozin kept his ear out, but aside from them, few people here seemed to care much for the events that were unfolding beyond the distant horizon at the end of the sky. Tamura seemed to be a lot different from Ishida in that respect. There was a stark lack of concern. Sozin supposed it was only natural to be that way if you were standing on the winning side of a conflict. Before the war, the town had been situated on the outskirts of Tamura, but now it was far removed from the action taking place on its country's endlessly-encroaching, ever-expanding borders.

Kira's half-lidded eyes drifted lazily, relegated to scanning the streets in search of some source of entertainment. Glancing over to her side, she saw Sozin with his head down and unfocused eyes glazed over in thought as they walked. He did that often. He was clearly busy ruminating, and at this point, she had gotten a bit of a feel for the man, so she didn't want to bother him when it looked like he was thinking about something important and might make a revelation. That meant she was by herself for now. Not like that was anything new.

Kira did her best to ignore the aches and pains in the soles of her feet. If there was one thing she didn't like about this leg of the journey, it was that the walking never seemed to end for them and there was nothing to really do. She was used to seeing new places like Tanoshi as a wandering samurai, so the novelty of most new locations had quickly gotten old and boring for her as she had pretty much seen it all. In her experience, the battle against boredom was an often vicious and recurring one.

Kira narrowed her eyes.

So it seemed. She would have to use her _trump card_.

Underneath the brim of her hat, there was a tiny loop where she secured her pipe for safekeeping. The hat and her pipe were Kira's most prized possessions, second only to her swords, and she didn't plan on losing either of them anytime soon. Since there was nothing to do, she decided to light a smoke to stave off some of that nagging feeling in the back of her brain and the boredom along with it. Two birds with one stone. If she didn't catch a few puffs, it was like skipping lunch or breakfast.

Kira took a few whiffs from her pipe. Her face remained bored and aloof until she spotted something strange amongst the line of establishments framing the street with their obnoxious advertisements. Her face instantly lit up.

"What the..." Kira started under her breath. She removed her pipe from her lips in astonishment and exclaimed out of nowhere, "What the hell is that?"

Sozin was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of Kira's shocked voice. Confused, he snapped to attention to see what the problem was and had the look of a fish on land. It wasn't until he saw exactly what Kira was staring at that all his confusion instantly melted into grinning amusement.

"Holy shit, is that a person?" Sozin blurted out.

Amongst the row of many storefronts, there, behind the window of one, just standing out in the open, was what seemed to be a naked woman blatantly putting herself on display for everyone else in the street to see. She was frozen into position, glamorous and posing like a geisha that had gotten a little too full of herself. Unsure if his eyes were deceiving him, Sozin began to move in closer, curiosity getting the better of him. He brushed past other people and veered off from the crowded middle of the street towards the edge where the window was.

"Hey! Where are you going? Don't get closer!" Kira said to him, but her words fell on deaf ears. Watching Sozin leave her side made her legs move on their own, and she followed him without thinking.

With no social inhibitions left to speak of, Sozin marched right up to the window of the store without the slightest hint of propriety in the world. Upon closer inspection, he realized that the woman behind the glass wasn't actually real at all. On the contrary, she seemed to be a mannequin of some sort but was incredibly life-like and realistic to the eye. Much more so than anything he'd ever witnessed before. It was a lot like a giant doll and had the outlandish proportions of one too.

The doll sported a buxom set of knockers with pink nipples, and Sozin stared shamelessly at them. It would be ridiculous to think any woman could possess the insane proportions that the doll had but the lack of realism didn't make it any less interesting to look at. Quite the opposite, actually. Sozin was curious about what kind of establishment would have such a culturally heinous thing on display, so he tore his eyes off the voluptuously fake body and darted them to the sign hung up in front of the store with red kanji painted on it.

"Sex shop..." Sozin read aloud. "Well, that's pretty self-explanatory. Never seen one of these in public back home. I guess they do things different here."

Kira couldn't take her eyes off the doll, not out of interest but from the sheer disgust. The face was discernably fake, a clear imitation of a human being, although it was close enough to a real person that it gave Kira the shivers. One plastic eye was staring straight ahead while the other had been loosened out of place inside the skull and was crossed. Kira could only imagine what sort of activity could result in that happening. "It looks so life-like," she said. "It's creepy, isn't it?"

Sozin grinned with a sideways glance. "Yeah! Let's go inside and check it out!"

"No..." Kira drawled in disbelief. "You can't be serious."

"Oh hell yeah I'm serious," Sozin said with a look of pure and determined enthusiasm. He gestured towards the doll. "I mean, just look at that thing. I gotta find out what this is all about. Besides, it's cold and crowded out here."

From the caves and now to this strange place, it seemed Sozin was the one taking point on this particular expedition into uncharted territory. The chime of miniature bells jingled to the ear as the door to the shop opened and he entered with Kira reluctantly tailing behind. The only other person in the store, an old, balding man sitting behind the wooden counter in the far back of the shop, merely glanced up from his newspaper before returning to reading whatever page piqued his interest. Sozin figured that the man was the shop owner, although he wasn't sure what a guy with his age and libido was doing running a place like this.

The store had various sections to it, each dedicated to a certain kind of item: lingerie, clothing, magazines, dildos, odd sex toys, and more. From the walls on either side to the rows of shelves inbetween, every spot in the store seemed to have something it was selling in one color or another. It was a lot to take in for sure, but there was only one thing on Sozin's mind. Almost immediately, sans a few perusing glances, he went back to the doll on display at the window for a second but more thorough rear-view look.

It was right in front of him within arm's reach. At this distance, the plump and round curves of the doll's ass wouldn't have failed to impress any man taking in an eyeful of them.

"Oh my god. Stop staring at it," Kira scolded. She jabbed Sozin in the ribs with her finger. The second-hand embarrassment was reeking from her voice. "Why did we come in here?"

"Ow!" Sozin laughed with a vicious squirm. He reeled away from her finger, grinning all the while. " Don't be so mean!" he said. "Hey, I wonder if this is like a strip club. Do you think they have a 'don't touch, just look' policy?"

"I don't know and I don't care," Kira said. "This place is disgusting."

Although he was wary of any more finger jabs from Kira, Sozin's attention darted back to the doll. Hung around its neck and draped down the back was a necklace with a tag attached to it. Sozin picked it up between his fingers. _Sex doll,_ the front of the tag said in red kanji. On the back, it read, _Made with rubber_.

"Rubber..." Sozin pondered in mystical fascination. He had heard of this amazing material before but had never seen it personally; they didn't have it in Ishida. Wide-eyed, he stroked his chin like a wizard. "I see... So this is the power of Tamuran technology."

"Okay, you've had your look now. Are you done yet?" Kira said with crossed arms.

"No, not yet," Sozin said. "I must investigate further. I need see how it feels."

"You what?" Kira blurted out.

Without hesitation, Sozin reached down and grabbed a handful of the doll's ass, earning him and Kira a few weird looks from passerbys in the street.

"Sozin, what the fuck are you doing?" Kira said. She couldn't believe how this grown man was behaving as though she wasn't standing right there next to him. This level of indecency was unheard of!

Sozin laughed heartily and replied, "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm testing out the merchandise," he replied casually as he dug his greedy hand into the doll's rubbery haunches. "Hmm..." He thought about the sensation for a groping moment. It was a perky, bouncy sensation that molded slightly to the press of his fingers. He liked it a lot. Even more curious now, Sozin hovered his other hand by Kira's waistline as he continued to grip the doll. "Hey, you're a real woman, Kira. Could I grab your ass too? For comparison's sake?"

Unamused, Kira's eyes flicked to Sozin's awaiting hand. "Did you really just ask me that question? Why don't you grab your own?"

Seeing her face, Sozin returned his free hand to his side. "I'm a guy though. It's not the same. Mine is pure muscle."

"All right, well, what do you think my answer is?"

"No," Sozin guffawed. He let go of the doll. "C'mon, Kira," he said cheerily. "I'm just messing around. Don't be such a prude. You could at least lighten up a bit, y'know. Have a little fun. I know you wanna grab something too." Sozin looked around. He hadn't payed that much attention to the shelves walking in, but now he realized that they were stocked with an array of dildos coming in a whole variety of sizes. One of them was 9 inches long and looked like it belonged to a horse. Thinking she would like that size, he snatched the rubber phallus off one of the shelves and tried to shove it in her hands with the dexterity of a thief. "Here! Grab this penis!"

"What? No!" Kira blurted out, swiping his arm away.

"Whoaaaahohoahhh, just look it," Sozin admired. He flipped the rubber penis into the air like a juggling pin and caught it as it was spinning, the sudden stop of the catch causing the rubber to jiggle to a hilarious standstill that put a smile on the man's face. "Damn! Kira, you should sit on this thing. It's as thick as your wrist."

Kira orange eyes lulled into a dry gaze. She stared at a corner of the wall. "You have no idea how to handle women, do you?"

Sozin laughed and grinned wide. "Nah!" he said proudly. "I don't know if you realize, but you're talking to a guy who was never really given the chance to learn." Sozin planted the dildo on top of his groin, pretending it was his own member. He swiveled his hips around in an arc like he was peeing. "Psssssssssssssss!" he crowed, laughing again. "This shit is huge. You think you could take one this size?"

Kira shrugged. "How would I know? I'm a virgin."

"What? You're a virgin? No, you're not," Sozin said in stark disagreement.

"Yes, I am," Kira said.

"You?" Sozin said with pure disbelief at the elegant woman before him. His finger was pointing lazily at her.

Kira gestured with her head. "No, the woman in the street that's staring at us because you're making a scene. YES, ME!" she yelled. "WHAT THE HELL ARE WE DOING IN THIS STORE?"

Sozin began to laugh heartily at her annoyance and that seemed to do it. Keeping her arms crossed, Kira looked the other way with a haughty flourish, choosing to ignore Sozin's inappropriate behavior.

"This is ridiculous," she said, exiting out of the conversation.

_Well then..._ Sozin thought. If that's how she was going to be, then he was just going to have to step up his game. A lightbulb lit up in Sozin's head, beaming onto his face, and he aimed the rubber phallus at the woman like a sword, grabbing it by the curiously rotund base. "Kira..." he murmured dangerously. Now that he put up a threat, she would be forced to respond to it or suffer the full breadth of his attack! If his experience in battle thus far had taught him anything, it was to put the ball in the opponent's court if they were incredibly defensive. A tried and true tactic! Only an absolute genius could think of such a thing!

Sensing a mischievous intent in the man's voice, Kira turned back to look at Sozin. That couldn't be good. Not good at all. As soon as her eyes flickered up, then she saw the way he was grinning at her, daring and full of devilish stupidity, and then what he was aiming in her direction too. Kira planted her hands on her hips, taking one off to point aggressively at the phallic-shaped object he was wielding like a fencer about to strike. "Sozin, I swear to god, if you poke me with that thing, I'm going to beat your fucking ass."

"You sure about that?" Sozin challenged in amusement. He raised his eyebrows a few times with that toothy, charateristic grin of his and said, "Martial arts is my specialty and you're too close to pull out your sword. It's game over, samurai! The shinobi has won!"

Kira didn't say anything back. She tried to analyze the situation, searching for a bluff but there was none to be found. This man was serious. So serious in fact that he had come full circle and couldn't stop himself from giving into bouts of childish giggling as he had a staring stand off with the one and only, Kira Tomoe. This clash of titans was sure not to end well. There was a seemingly permanent grin plastered onto Sozin's face like an idiot and his eyes were filled to the brim with cheeky buffoonery that would not yield in the face of her dignified annoyance.

The intense air tickled the back of Kira's neck as she bore her gaze into the heart of the man's soul. "Sozin..." she warned a second time. Without wanting, a perilous grin of her own was sneaking up on the corner of her lip like a bad itch. She tried to silence it, but some of his crude humor was beginning to rub off on her and mix in with the annoyance, filling the void an ample amount of boredom had left behind.

In that moment, Sozin had another bright idea.

"All right, all right—fine, fine..." Sozin relented. He lowered his dildo-wielding hand. "Imma chill, Kira. Imma chill for you..."

"Thank you..." Kira said in irritated relief. She turned her attention away from Sozin and looked out the window. "Can we get out of here now? I don't want people to-"

_Slap!_

Sozin whacked Kira on the back of the neck with the dildo as hard as he could.

"You motherf-" Kira lunged for the dildo.

Sozin yelped like a little girl. "Hey, hey, hey! "I'm playin', I'm playin'!" he desperately shot out, laughing as a he shrunk back from her assault.

"Give me that!" Kira demanded. She struggled with a grinning Sozin, grappling with him as they vied for control of the phallus. Sozin couldn't keep his compsure as he fought against her. He was hooting like a monkey as he found himself being reduced into giggling pile of smithereens by the second. As they struggled, Kira tried to rip the phallus out of his hands, and in her anger, she gripped the shaft of the phallus a little too hard and it made a squelching noise. A stream of milky white came shooting out that went flying over her shoulder and onto the floor.

Both of them froze.

Sozin locked eyes with Kira.

Sozin's face was now stuck wide open. His grip loosened up and his hands relinquished the dildo without meaning to. He wanted to laugh so bad that he found himself physically unable to speak, his voice hitching in amusement like a broken record player. Hiccups of laughter were all that managed to come out from his choking voice. He couldn't breath it was so funny.

"Oh my gahhh! Oh my gahh!" Sozin cackled, trying to speak. "What—what is happening?"

The man was dying at this point, laughing so hard, he had turned into the hyena spirit.

Dropping the dildo, Kira pinched the bridge of her nose, her head falling with a groan. She went beet red. "This man..." she muttered to herself. For some reason, she was grinning too, if only half-heartedly. Suffice to say, she was no longer bored, but had gotten a lot more than she'd bargained for.

"Jeez..." Sozin said, his laughter calming down somewhat. He inspected the dildo in amusement. "I wish they had more places like this back in Ishida," he chuckled, speaking a little louder than he should've.

"Hey, what's going on over there?" the store owner called out over the shelves and from the other end of the room. "You two are from Ishida?"

Kira picked her head up in alarm.

It was the owner! He must've tuned in to the conversation after hearing the ruckus they were making!

"Oh, shit! Time to go!" Sozin exclaimed in an amused murmur. He shrunk down, picking up and placing the source of their conflict back on the shelf after realizing they had been discovered. Whispering frantically, he shared a worried look with Kira and ushered her with along his hand on her back. "Go, go! Out the door!" He began pushing her in the direction of the exit.

"Hey!" the owner shouted.

Sozin heard a chair grate against the floor. The sound someone standing up and then the churning of footsteps came quickly after. He was most certainly going to check on them in the aisle.

The pair hurried out the door, the chimes ringing again as Sozin lead Kira by the wrist.

"Sorry about that!" Sozin shouted as the door closed shut behind them.

Sozin warily glanced back to the window of the storefront. The old man saw them leaving and gave them a dismissive wave. He was probably wondering why he should even bother to chase after a couple of young delinquents. He was too old for that, and the man's gesture had said it all.

Despite the wave of relief he felt, Sozin immediately went into scanning mode. Across the street, he saw a few robed men with swords talking amongst each other—law enforcement, no doubt—but they were unaware. Just in case the old man decided to change his mind about them and report their little incident, Sozin decided to pull Kira into the nearby alley. They appeared out on the other side into a different street that was just as busy as the last. Blending into the crowd wasn't difficult, but Sozin continued to laugh in the wake of their escape. If someone was still chasing them, they would've easily stood out and been caught.

"Phew..." Sozin breathed as they walked away. "That could've gone really bad. That old guy gave up on us pretty fast though," he chuckled nervously.

"You're... an idiot..." Kira muttered, but her words only sort of matched her face. There was a thinly-veiled smile, and she gave a lighthearted shake of her head.

"Thank you, thank you very much," Sozin said with a smug grin.

"You had me worried there for a second. Aren't you supposed to be good at keeping a low-profile?" Kira teased.

"Yeah, but in that case, I kinda got caught up in the moment. From now on, why don't we stick to getting our train tickets?"

"Please..." Kira said with mock snobbery. "You're going to get my blood rushing and not in the fun way."

Sozin laughed, grinned, and said, "No regrets though."

From there, it was a long walk to the train station. The town was fairly big, but it wasn't like they were in any rush.

When they got there, they made their way onto the train platform and up to the ticket booth. Money was in short supply—Sozin had spent most of it on his gear before they'd left for Tamura and Kira was as empty-handed as any other vagabond—but it seemed they had enough for two one-way tickets and few coins left to spare. The Tamuran capital, Asakura, was their next destination. With the tickets in his hand, the small coin purse affixed to Sozin's torso was feeling rather drafty now. He would have to find work once they got into the city. He would ensure that a lack of funds wasn't going to be an obstacle in the success of his mission.

According to the schedule posted on a signboard, the train wouldn't be arriving for some time, so they sat outside on a bench looking out onto Tanoshi's busy streets. Sozin had reverted back to his usual, brooding self, and was slumped forward, hands clasped together with an unwelcoming look on his face much like his father's before him. Next to him, Kira smoked her pipe with a lazy expression on her face from beneath her hat, an arm thrown over the spine of the bench and legs spread casually apart.

Kira's stomach grumbled. She placed a hand on her stomach and chimed up, "It'd be nice to have a bit more money. I hope you don't plan on trying to take over Tamura on an empty stomach, cause otherwise, I'm out," she grinned.

"You're hungry, huh?" Sozin said with a serious glance. "Listen, I don't want you to worry about money, Kira. We'll have enough for plenty of food soon. Asakura is a big city. Where there's people, there's bound to be work for a guy like me in the underworld. I'll make enough money for both of us so we can focus on the task at hand."

"Ooh, the underworld? Is that what you call it?" Kira remarked, feigning mystery and fear. With an impish tone, she said, "Must be fun being a criminal."

Sozin grinned with a laugh. "Well, it sure does pay well, but the fun is a nice bonus. You meet a lot of interesting characters, I can tell you that much."

"I bet... Got any good stories?"

"I, uh... Yeah... I got a few..." Sozin voice trailed off. He was squinting off into the distance.

"Well, don't be shy," Kira said. "Lay 'em on me!"

Sozin didn't respond.

His eyes had locked onto something.

Something horrible.

From the bench they were sitting on, Sozin could see straight down the alley on the other side of the street. He squinted harder, trying to get a better view as the people passing by blocked his line of sight. Two lone figures—a mother and a son—were in the alley just outside the fenced-in enclosure of their apartment's small, square backyard. It was too far for him to hear what was going on with his ears or to be able to read their lips without a telescope, but he watched them carefully from afar.

It was clear the mother was yelling at her son.

Had he really seen what he thought he did?

It seemed the mother had the boy by a clutch of hair on the back of his head. Her grip was rough and tight as she shook him to attention with a level of anger that no parent should ever have for their child. She wanted her son to look her in the eye. He couldn't have been any older than ten years old. He was meeting his mother's gaze with a frozen, shocked face, but then the mother's hand knocked it out of him with a hard slap across the cheek.

But it didn't stop there.

It never stopped even as Sozin begged for it not to continue.

And so too did Sozin's eyes freeze into a deadly stare. They froze as they had when his own mother used to abuse him as a child, much like this boy was getting abused now, but instead of fear, there was only the darkening anguish of anger and inferno. He felt a boiling in his veins, a deep raucous that would no longer be silenced in the face of injustice. Sozin's clasped hands turned restless, fumbling terribly with each other as they conspired to take action. Without realizing it, he started feeling the scar on his cheek with two tentative fingers, reminded of his own past ordeals as they flashed through his head. He would never forget them no matter how many years went by.

Watching the scene unfold in the distance, Sozin quickly pieced things together. On the cobbled ground, there was a sack of rice spilling out into the alley by the entrance to their apartment's tiny enclosure. No doubt, the boy was carrying it and had dropped it on accident, earning him an undue amount of his mother's ire.

How could anyone do this? All of it angered him beyond control. He could not sit still. It was just another sick way the strong abused the weak, another form of the injustice he was ultimately going to avenge en masse by killing the deserving, but that did not mean he would allow this to continue. Not by a longshot.

"Sozin...?" Kira said with a sideways look. Her brow creased in worry. She'd been gazing into the street until she realized the man wasn't talking anymore. His face was another thing entirely. He had the most demonic leer in his eyes that could clear a room full of even the most fearless men. A slight, demented gape parted his lips and he was silent like the calm before a storm.

Sozin stood up and Kira's eyes widened.

_The darkness from before_,she thought. _There it is again._

"Hey, where are you going?" Kira said in alarm.

Sozin turned to look at Kira, slower than usual and more menacing like he was trying to hold something back. She found it hard not to avert herself from his penetrating stare. "Whatever I'm about to do..." Sozin said in a low, threatening voice, "_Do not intervene..._"

"Wait, what are you about to do?" Kira said in alarm, spurring up onto her feet. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You'll see..." Sozin murmured darkly.

Sozin's attention was back on the alley again, laser-focused with only a single purpose in mind. Kira understood his anger when she saw what he was looking at but didn't say anything, merely tagging along behind him as he wordlessly cut through the crowd, across the street, and entered the alley like a reaper in the night. People had made way for him, sensing a purpose in the man's step like no other before it.

As they entered, the alley gave way to a narrow intersection of four adjacent buildings. The mother was facing in the other direction, still scolding her child with hard slaps across the cheek. The message had gotten through—it was written all over the boy's expression—but the mother continued anyway, as though it wasn't about the message but instead teaching the boy a lesson he'd remember for the rest of his scarred life.

It was never about the physical pain and Sozin could already tell it was the same for the boy too. Sozin had got used to that pretty quickly himself, but what he could never get used to was the idea that not even your own parents loved you—the idea that the only two people in the world who were supposed to in spite of everything and who brought you into this world then only to suffer from their hatred. Like it was all for one, big, cruel joke.

Sozin grinned with malevolence, giggling as he walked forth.

But the funniest part always was...

When they had the nerve to look at you and regret telling it.

"Look at what you've done!" the mother screeched in a tantrum. "I told you it was heavy! Why didn't you listen to me?"

"It was too heavy! I couldn't help it!" the boy whined.

"Do you know how hard I worked for that? Can't you just-" With a growl and shake of her head, the mother reeled her hand back for another blow.

Sozin seized her by the wrist with the cold grip of an undertaker.

Startled, the woman craned her neck back. The anger on her face disappeared the instant she saw a man looming over her, a man who looked like he wanted nothing more than to drag her into the abyss and into a place where she would never return from.

Without so much as a single word, Sozin delivered a vicious slap.

The woman was sent tumbling off her feet and onto her robes, all to the horror of her son.

Sozin gestured into his chest as he loomed closer to the woman's fallen form. "Excuse me, is there something I'm just not understanding here? Am I the clueless one? Have I failed to notice the elephant in the room?" he said, speaking with a precarious calm. He crouched low to the ground, getting in the woman's face, and broke that calm at the drop of a hat. "I don't think I have, because if I'm not mistaken, I believe I saw you hitting that child! Tell me!" he said, his voice rising into a harsh yell. "What the _fuck _did you think you were doing?"

Kira stood not far behind Sozin. She met the uncertain eyes of the young boy and then returned to the mother. Her lips began moving on their own. "Sozin, I-"

"Kira, shut the fuck up!" Sozin snapped, throwing his head back like a wild animal. His voice boomed with anger.

Astonished, Kira immediately put her hands up and backed off with a downwards nod. She settled into a heavy silence. When Sozin returned his attention the woman, she quietly drifted over to the boy and took him under her wing, guiding him away from the commotion.

"Come along now. You shouldn't see this..." Kira said softly. She stopped at the entrance to the enclosure. "Is this where you live?"

"Yeah..." the boy said, glancing back just before they disappeared beyond the tall, gated bamboo fence.

Although his attention was on the mother, Sozin was vaguely aware of what was going on behind him. Like a true lone wolf. Always silent and always observing. Deep down, he was glad Kira was here because he knew he had his own way of doing things and it wasn't always the best way. Now he was going to feel less sorry about this.

"I'm not happy..." Sozin said. "Not... Happy..."

"My son... I was just trying to discipline him," the woman blubbered. "I didn't mean to-"

"You didn't mean to what?" Sozin cut in with fury. "To hit him over and over again? To treat him as less than the dirt under your feet? What exactly did you not mean?"

The man gave a growl of disgust. She was averting her fearful gaze, already raining tears and on the verge of completely breaking down.

"Stop stop stop stop, stop your fucking crying!" Sozin jabbered with an annoyed grimace, sticking his hand up like he was going to smack her again. He restrained himself, however, and leaned in hauntingly close. "Look me in the eye and tell me that's not what you did."

"It is, it is..." the mother admitted shamefully between her scared, sobbing voice. "I shouldn't have, but I did..."

"Telling a young boy to carry something that heavy," Sozin laughed darkly. "And then blaming him when he drops it... You set him up for failure... What greater crime can you commit as a parent? Seems you forgot you were one in the first place..."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Please don't hurt me," the woman said.

"Oh, I know you are..." Sozin murmured. " I know you fucking are now that I'm here, but you know what? When my father used to beat me for my failures, you know what he always used to tell me? You can always be sorry after the fact..."

The woman swallowed. Her fingers were digging into the hard cobblestone as Sozin wracked his brain. She wanted to recoil away from him. He could feel her immense tension.

"Listen closely because here's what's going to happen. If I come back here," he murmured, pinching his fingers, "and I will... Maybe not tomorrow... Maybe not next week... Maybe not even next month... but if I come back and find even a single scratch or bruise on that boy... I'm going to beat you to death with my own hands. Are we clear?"

"Y-yes..." the woman choked up.

"_Are we clear?_" Sozin said again in a firmer voice.

"Yes..." she said a little louder and with more clarity.

"Good... Now, about your son..."

There was a rush of hurried footsteps. The boy came running out of the backyard and back into the alley with Kira chasing behind. With a huff of exasperation, Kira reached a hand out as though to stop him through sheer willpower alone, but it was too late, and she gave up.

"Ah, there he is. Right on time..." Sozin said, turning his head before returning to the mother. "He still cares about you."

"Please don't hurt her!" the boy begged, wedging himself inbetween his mother and the strange man accosting her.

"Well, would you look at that... Fascinating..." Sozin murmured with a raspy voice. It was like he was looking at a reflection of his younger self, and he felt a pang of remorse hit him hard in the chest though he didn't let it show. In Sozin's eyes, a son's love for his mother was unlike anything else in the world. It was probably the purest form of love, and that was why it hurt so bad when she betrayed him. He had long since forgotten what it looked like, let alone felt like, and so he relented, if just a little. "I'm not going to hurt you mom, boy..." Sozin assured him. "We were just talking, that's all..."

"Go back inside the house, Mako" the mother said, collecting herself.

"No," Sozin stopped her. "That won't be necessary. I was just leaving..." Sozin gave the woman one last, scrutinizing look, making sure he was truly happy with the verdict. He found that he was, and so he reached into the coin purse around his torso and retrieved the last few coins he had left, roughly stuffing them into the mother's palm and clamping her hand shut around it with his own. Rising to his feet, he said, "I hope you know you don't deserve that boy, and it's a miracle he still loves you..." Taking his exit, Sozin brushed past Kira like a gust of dark wind. "Let's go..." he muttered under his breath.

Kira's gaze lingered on the scared woman and her son before taking her leave as well with Sozin.

Kira caught up to the man just as he was leaving the alley. His hands were stuffed angrily into the pockets of his hakama. They were heading back towards the train station. She didn't say anything, not a word, until the urge to speak out was too much to bear. They were crossing past another back alley when Kira locked her grip around Sozin's arm and started pulling him towards it.

"Okay," she said with more than just a hint of admonishment. "C'mon. We're going this way."

"Hey!" Sozin uttered as she yanked him hard. "What are you doing?"

"I can't take this anymore. We need to talk." Kira pulled Sozin into the alley and away from everyone else in the street. She cornered him against the wall in a blindspot behind a stack of vegetable crates. "What the hell did you do to that woman back there?" she asked.

"You're still thinking about that?" Sozin said coldly. "I stopped her from dying alone in a nursing home is what I did."

"Are you insane? How can you say that? It looked like you traumatized her."

"I sure hope I did. Rather it be her than the child who doesn't know any better and didn't ask for that."

"What?" Kira said with a grimace of disbelief.

"Necessary evils, Kira," Sozin said. "Necessary evils..."

"There's no such thing as a 'necessary' evil."

"I'm sorry, but the world isn't going to be fixed with kindness."

"That's your idea of fixing the world? You're off the rails," Kira said. "What is wrong with you?"

"I don't think you understand just what that kind of treatment can do to a child," Sozin said.

"She gave him a slap on the cheek. So what?" Kira said. "You made things worse. You didn't have to go over there and make a tragedy of it."

Sozin's lip curled, not in anger but frustation for her lack of understanding. "Yes, Kira..." he said, bringing himself into a lethal quiet. "I believe I did..."

"Give me one good reason why," Kira demanded.

"Me..." Sozin snarled lowly. "Me!" he yelled in her face. The man began to chuckle morbidly, light and quick pitter patters of laughter, his hardened exterior cracking like it was all one big joke. "You think I just decided to do that out of nowhere? Do you think these things just happen? Because they don't! Tell me, does this look like a slap on the cheek to you?" Sozin jabbed his finger at his scar and raised his voice. "I used to be that boy! I was him! And now look at me! Look at what I've become!"

Unmoved, Kira raised a harsh, critical eyebrow. "Is this about your family?"

"My fuckin' parents..." Sozin seethed through clenched teeth. His nostrils flared, breathing coming out in heavy snorts, his head jittering with unstable emotion. "I hated my parents for what they did to me, but I hated my mother the most for betraying me when she was the only one on my side... The only one I had left in a world full of shit and pain..." the man spat. "You don't know what that boy is going through. He shouldn't have to come home to what he did. If there is even the slightest chance that I kept him from becoming something he shouldn't, I'm glad I made a fucking tragedy of it, and I would do it again in a heartbeat if I had the chance," he said, going wide-eyed.

They stared at each other as Sozin breathed heavily through the nose, barely containing himself. As a young boy, it wasn't typical of him to get angry. He felt his anger was something the world had forced upon him, and it had been. Sozin's features shrunk back into his face, morphing into a grimace of vulnerability then and there as he was being torn apart from the inside.

His expression filled the woman's soul. Realization shot into Kira like a ghost had phased through her body. These were real emotions.

"A-are you..." Kira uttered as she finally understood. It all made sense now.

Sozin couldn't bear to look at Kira so he turned away, embarrassed by himself and the fact that his eyes were watering. "Why do you think I killed my own family?" he quavered in painful emotion. "I killed them because they were awful... I killed them because they deserved to die."

Kira gripped Sozin by the shoulders. Overwhelmed and drawing nothing but blanks, she felt up his arms before sliding her hands behind his back and pulling him into an apologetic hug. Her eyes were alive with thought, trying to process what he had said. Sozin's arms wrapped weakly around her and Kira pulled him tighter. She panted, relieved once she had him in an embrace as though he would've fallen apart if she wasn't there to hold him together, but cursed in her head at what was happening.

"At least with my father, I knew what to expect, but my mother... My mother..." Sozin sneered tremulously. "She stabbed me in the back as soon as I became an inconvenience to her relationship. I was a disappointment for the family, and father never left her alone about it. She started blaming me. Like I had asked to be born."

Kira felt one of Sozin's hands squeeze her lower side, the other fidgeting against her back with nothing to grip on to but the robe.

"Have you been keeping this inside you the whole time?" Kira asked. "I had no idea..."

"I've never told anyone besides Wolf, but my mother knows the full story too. She's still alive... the only one that survived my retribution..." Sozin's eyes fluttered, lulling into a deep, considering pause. "I don't know why I spared her. I suppose... it was in the name of our past relationship... What once... was..." The man's voice trailed off like a leaf being taken by the breeze.

"Oh..."

"That was four years ago..." Sozin said. "But if feels like yesterday to me..."

Kira took note of Sozin's worn down voice. He always had it whenever they spoke, but in a moment like this, it was shining through more than ever. "So, how old are you now?"

"Twenty-two... Why?"

"Twenty-two!" Kira said in astonishment. "That's... worrying..." she remarked. "In my travels, I've gone to a lot of places and talked to a lot of people. I've even talked to a lot of old men before. They have a weary voice, the kind that only comes with age or experience. You have that same voice, Sozin. I hear it every time you speak, and you're so young."

"I've never noticed... but... that's sad, isn't it?"

"No... It's not your fault."

"And what about you? How old are you?"

"Twenty-three."

"Twenty-three, huh? I guess that makes you the mature one," Sozin chuckled, an ounce of glee in the pool of dejection that was his voice. "Life can really get you down... If you're not careful, it'll grind you away until you're nothing but an empty shell on the inside."

"Is that what you think you are? An empty shell?"

"Yes..."

"Well, you're not," Kira said, leaning back to reveal her comforting smile to him. "Empty shells don't have feelings. You're still a person, Sozin. _Even if you don't think you are._"

Sozin smiled. "The depths of my misery know no bounds," he murmured.

Chuckling, Kira pulled back from their hug and ruffled Sozin's black hair with a grinning sigh. "You're such an edgelord..."

They absorbed each other's expressions for a few, tantalizing moments, falling into a short silence. But silence would never last between them.

"Is it bad that I enjoyed it?" the man asked out of nowhere.

"Enjoyed what? Killing your family?" Kira said with surprise.

"Yeah..."

"I don't know..." Kira said. "I'm not even sure what that feels like... to hate your own family. I don't know if I can imagine it."

"As much as it bothers me, I know I'm glad I killed my father..." Sozin murmured darkly.

"What did he do to you?"

"You wouldn't like him... He was a real... patriarch of a man—tall, forbidding, and strict..."

"Sounds like the kind of guy to be leading in the military," Kira said.

"Yeah. Unfortunately, I didn't inherit his height," Sozin chuckled in sad, morbid amusement, "but I'll never forget the look on his face he would always give whenever he saw me. The same, fucking, look of disappointment... day, after day, after day... It was tiresome..."

Unsure of what words to provide, Kira almost stayed silent. "That's... terrible, Sozin."

"I know..." Sozin murmured. "But it's the truth, and it's nice to finally have someone to tell it to for once. Frankly, I enjoyed killing him with my own hands. It was like I had finally been freed. That day... I knew I could stand up to anyone. No man... will ever scare me as much as my father did..." Sozin said. He lingered on Kira's bewildered face, the face of someone who didn't know how to help him before he was compelled to change the subject. "We... should get moving. Otherwise, we're gonna miss our ride."

"Right," Kira replied. Stepping back, she gave Sozin a few love pats on the chest.

Sozin stuck his hands back into his pockets. They started out of the alley together, but as they walked out, Sozin wanted to say one more thing. "Hey, Kira..." he spoke up.

"Yeah?"

"Sorry for cursing at you earlier."

Kira snorted. There was that meeker part of him again that was usually hidden by his hardened exterior. She found his consideration sweet, if a bit late. "It's all right..." she assured him. "I understand why you were so angry now. You can be pretty scary when you're mad."

"I suppose I get that from my father..." Sozin said, uncertain of whether that was a good thing or not.

In the distance, the loud steam whistle of a bustling mass of metal went off and it spurred them to move at a faster pace. By the time they got to the train station, they were greeted by the raucous, metallic shrieks that signalled the arrival of a hunkering machine upon the railway, one of the greatest feats of ironworks to have graced the world by way of the great minds across the southern seas. Right on time! They had made it just as the passengers were getting off and new ones were getting on. The metal carriages carrying the cargo of this machinery were numerous, attached to each other like the segments of a giant worm except it fed not off dirt but off coal. Black coal that polluted the air with thick plumes of ash and cinder.

"Incredible..." Kira said in awe. She glanced to the front of the train where the raggedy engineer was leaning out of the driver's compartment. He pulled on a cord just outside the compartment window and the steam whistle sounded a few times more, as if the operation of the train by itself wasn't enough to tell people that it was here.

Sozin was impressed as well. This was the first time either of them had ever been in the presence of such a magnificient and complicated contraption. They watched impatiently as all the old passengers disembarked along with everyone else who was standing around to board. The system for boarding worked in waves with the passengers with the most expensive tickets getting on first and the least expensive last, so that meant they had to wait. When it was finally their turn, the Tamuran conductors greeted and directed them to the rear carriages with a polite and refined smile, wearing fine uniforms that stood out like a sore thumb amongst the funneling crowd. Their dark red button-up coats, pants, and signature conductor's cap—the color of an exquisite wine—were rather strange in comparison to the robes that were typical of Miuran culture as a whole.

Sozin squeezed into one of the carriages with Kira and made his way down the narrow aisle, finding a hard, wooden seat for them near the back of the carriage. Unfortunately, a pair of cheap tickets didn't afford them much seating space, so they would just have to deal with it. They took off their swords and hung them on the shoulder of the seat before cramming themselves into the small space that the inventors of this contraption seemed to have somehow considered fit for a grown man and woman.

Having taken the window side of things, Sozin shifted around, manuevering his knees away from the seat in front of them that was blocking his legs in. He made his best attempt at getting comfortable. "Damn, this shit is tight."

"Ha!" Kira smirked. "That's what he said."

"I'm sorry?" Sozin grinned in half confusion and half amusement. Considering her usual temperament, he cocked his head at her joke.

"Nothing," Kira said. "I was just saying—it pays to be small sometimes."

Sozin chuckled. "You're telling that to a shinobi?"

"No, I'm telling that to _thee_ shinobi," Kira said with some verbal flair. "You've got our tickets?" she asked.

"Of course," Sozin said, pulling the tickets out from underneath his cape and flashing them. "Right here."

Even though they were boarded, they still had quite a ways to go and many stops before they got to Asakura. They were in for the long haul on this one. Kira did her best to get settled in, especially since she didn't have the window seat.

Departure was fairly quick after the train was boarded. With a lurching groan, the wheels started to turn and it began to inch forward in a stalwart march, slowly but surely picking up a hefty kind of speed. In almost no time at all, they were chugging along merrily, driving down the tracks and across the countryside, deeper into Tamura. Telegraph lines had been erected along the path.

Eventually, the conductor came to punch their tickets. The railway made for a comparably smooth ride as opposed to a horse or a boat. From grasslands to forests, the land either stretched on for as far as the eye could see or sheltered them in the shade. Conversation kept them occupied. Sights and towns seemed to pass them by like the pages of a flipbook as Sozin revealed more and more of himself to Kira than he ever thought he would to anyone other than Wolf. She was a good listener, much like himself, and there were moments where he wondered what he had done to deserve the company of such a person. He was grateful to have her. Having a fresh ear to talk to was one of life's simpler pleasures that he wasn't going to take for granted, not when he had been denied that for all but a few times in his entire life. He supposed that was part of the reason why he didn't hold back when talking to her, not just because he trusted her now with his person and his mission, but also because he could learn something about himself by bouncing his past off of her as he had with Ikijo.

And for a while, it was nice.

Many a word later, they were on the side of a small mountain, overlooking hills of rice terraces as the train chugged along the tracks. Sleepy energies had gathered far above in the pleasant sky. It was dark and cloudy, cooling an orange sun that was bleeding between the hills in the far distance.

"That's a beautiful view," Kira said, gazing out the window in wonder. Half of her wanted to doze off into slumber while the other wanted to just look and do nothing but.

"Wanna switch seats?" Sozin asked, noticing her interest.

Kira lit up and punched him lightly on the shoulder. "'Bout time you offered, ya window hog!"

"It's kinda cramped in here. Move so I can get out," Sozin said.

"No, it's fine," Kira said. "I'll slide over. Lemme just..."

Without hesitation, Kira clambered off the seat and began to slide over Sozin's lap. Instinctively, Sozin began to shift in the other direction, but in the process, felt the soft perkiness of her rump gliding over the top of his legs and nearly his groin as well. If he had felt it, surely she did as well. With a grunt, Kira then casually plopped herself on the other side of him. The maneuver was no big deal for her. The nature of it didn't even seem to register in her mind. Was he going crazy? Maybe it was because he was a man. For a man, touch was as scarce as gold and all the more serious.

His member down there seemed to think it was serious too. The sensation was over as quickly as he had felt it, but it lingered in Sozin's mind like the afterimage of a bright light. He shut his eyes, swallowed, sighed, and proceeded to pinch the bridge of his nose in disappointment at himself as Kira gazed outside, seemingly unaware of what she had just caused to transpire inside the man mere seconds ago. _Great,_ he bemoaned within the comforts of his thoughts. _Now I know what her ass feels like._

It was much better than the doll, that was for sure.

But he was a monk, and he had consigned himself to celibacy! He shouldn't be thinking like that, especially not about his friend. At first, ignoring the memory of the sensation was no problem at all, but like a hot pepper that took a second to kick in, restless desire flooded through shortly thereafter, and the more he thought about it, the more it filled his thoughts. He wanted to fill something else too. As discreet as a suffering man could be, Sozin gripped the edge of the wooden seat with enough force to turn his knuckles white. He crushed the ball of his foot into the back of the seat in front of them in an attempt to let the energy out. But it wasn't working so well. There was only one way to let this kind of energy out and being a monk wasn't starting to sound so good anymore.

_Fucking hell, I don't need this shit right now, _Sozin thought.

Kira turned her head from the window. "Are you all right, Sozin?" she asked, picking up on his tension.

Sozin cursed in his head. _Why is she so perceptive?_

"Yeah..." Sozin said innocently. Maybe a little too innocently. He relaxed his muscles and continued with as much naturalness as he could muster. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Kira pursed her lips, eyes tracing away, rolling left, up, and then down before meeting his again. "I don't know..." she said with thinly-veiled awareness. She gave a plain smile and added, "Just thought I should ask."

Kira looked away. Sozin burned his eyeballs into the back of her head before returning to himself.

Himself...

Maybe not the best place to be right now.

He thought about it again. Her plump legs had grazed him, firm but soft in all the right ways as he would've expected from an athletic woman. In that sliver of time which he had been given to savor their feeling, hardly any time at all, he was instantly excited, but was that it? Was he so touch-starved that this was all it took to get him riled up on the inside? It was pathetic and he knew it.

"Are you gonna make a move on her?" Wolf asked, sensing the man's feelings.

"No! Oh, hell no!" Sozin murmured within the forest of the spirit realm.

"Why not?" Wolf asked.

"Because..." Sozin said. "Kira's the first real friend I've ever had. Out of respect for our relationship, I'm not going to do that. If my gambling days have taught me anything, it's not to risk something good on the chance that you might get something better. I am content with what I have, Wolf."

Wolf nodded in approval. "You are wise beyond your years, brother. I applaud your answer with my imaginary hands, but you still have much to learn. Count on that, if anything."

Night was approaching, and with it, so was their destination. Passengers would get off and even fewer got back on. With every stop the train grew more and more empty. By the time it was completely dark out, they were the only ones left in their carriage.

Asakura was the last stop for today's schedule.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's finally here! The next chapter! And it's a big chapter so I hope it satisfies your thirst. This was a pretty weird one too, not gonna lie, but I had fun writing it and wouldn't have it any other way cause in the end, it's supposed to be a bizarre adventure kind of like that one anime I shall not name. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope you guys enjoyed. Sorry about the late update by the way. I haven't had much time to write since I'm a college student and dealing with writing burnout considering all the essays I've had to do. I hope you can forgive me for that. For the foreseeable future, expect updates to be significantly slower now unlike in the past.


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